By MAL GILL
WAFARMERS hopes to get its own brand WAFarmersFirst full cream and hilo milk onto dairy shelves at IGA supermarkets across WA.
Since it was introduced almost two years ago as a tangible push back against $1-a-litre Coles and Woolworths milk, WAFarmersFirst milk has only been available at 83 Coles supermarkets or online.
A letter offering a wholesale deal on WAFarmersFirst milk is being sent first to the owners of each of the 99 regional and rural IGA stores in WA which could see the milk's market penetration significantly increased.
Based on how well the push into regional and rural stores is received, WAFarmers may then look at approaching the owners of about 149 metropolitan area IGA stores.
Significant feedback from a WAFarmers' stall in the dairy pavilion at this year's IGA Perth Royal Show was that many people who did not normally shop at Coles also wanted the opportunity to support local dairy farmers by buying WAFarmersFirst milk.
Many regional visitors to the dairy pavilion pointed out to WAFarmers' staff and members who manned the stall in shifts, they could not buy it to help support dairy farmers because their town did not have a Coles store.
Frequent questions asked were who owned WAFarmersFirst milk, where the milk came from and where money from its sales went?
The $2.99 for two litres retail product is South West WA milk processed and packaged for WAFarmers by Parmalat-owned Harvey Fresh under a licensing agreement and pays a 40 cents royalty to WAFarmers.
A quarter of that royalty goes directly to WAFarmers' dairy industry fund to finance industry improvement projects assessed by a committee of former Department of Agriculture and Food WA dairy specialists, Dean Maughan, John Lucey and John Giumelli.
The first project, funded by returns from WAFarmersFirst milk and approved at last year's dairy council annual meeting, was the reinstated dairy showcase at this year's Perth show.
In June WAFarmers called for nominations of a second round of projects costing between $1000 and $20,000, to be financed from the fund.
Chief executive officer Stephen Brown said WAFarmers "played a key role" in the show's dairy pavilion this year with the aim of giving visitors an understanding of the importance of the WA dairy industry, issues facing the industry and farmers, and how purchasing locally-produced and branded milk, like WAFarmersFirst, could help farmers.
"A royalty from each sale of WAFarmersFirst milk comes back to WAFarmers with a portion of the profits allocated to the WAFarmers dairy industry fund which can be accessed by anyone who has an idea or project that will benefit the WA dairy industry.
"This provides consumers a tangible way to support the WA dairy industry," Mr Brown said.
As well as the dairy pavilion stand, WAFarmers also supported an interactive milking station, which hosted live milking demonstrations several times a day.
"This not only gave visitors a chance to see the difference between hand and machine milking, to make butter and see how cream is separated from milk to create hilo milk, but gave the show's young visitors an understanding that milk actually comes from a cow, not from a bottle in the fridge.
"We were very encouraged by the number of people who said they bought WAFarmersFirst milk regularly, or who said they went out of their way to visit a Coles supermarket to specifically buy our milk," Mr Brown said.
He said the commonly-asked question was whether WAFarmersFirst milk would be retailed in country IGA Supermarkets.
"Many regionally-based visitors to our stall, particularly those from smaller towns, expressed their frustration that the milk was not available at their local IGA.
"We are pleased to announce that we are in discussions with all rural and regional IGA supermarket owners about getting WAFarmersFirst milk stocked in IGA supermarkets.
"As each IGA is independently owned, we have had to approach each store individually to see if they would be interested in stocking our milk, so we ask patrons to be patient while we work on these negotiations," he said.
A list of stockists will be added to the WAFarmers and WAFarmersFirst websites when negotiations with IGA owners are completed, Mr Brown said.
Launch of $1-a-litre Coles home brand milk on Australia Day 2011, followed by Woolworths' $1 milk, is blamed by many dairy farmers and Federal Agricultural Minister Barnaby Joyce for driving industry margins down to unsustainable levels.
In August Mr Joyce confirmed the Federal government had instructed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to conduct a wide-ranging 12-month investigation of Australia's dairy industry.
ACCC chairman Rod Simms said it would be a separate investigation from one already looking at Eastern States' milk processors Murray Goulburn and Fonterra.
Wagerup dairy farmer Tony Ferraro, one of three suppliers dropped by Brownes Dairy at the end of last month and facing being forced out of the industry, welcomed the ACCC investigation into what he believes is price collusion on $1 a litre milk.
"This is not a special price - it's been an everyday price for nearly six years now from two retailers who are supplied (in WA) by different processors who pay their suppliers different prices," Mr Ferraro said.
"If there is surplus milk like they say, and there's no collusion, how come consumers are still paying $1 a litre?
"With fuel, or bananas or whatever, when there's an oversupply situation the price comes down, but not with $1 milk," he said.
Seven months after Coles introduced $1-a-litre milk the ACCC ruled it was not predatory pricing.