WA dairy farmers are the most likely to be planning investment in their farms according to the recent National Dairy Farmer Survey conducted by Dairy Australia.
The survey found that 37 per cent of WA dairy farmers had intention to invest in on-farm capital, the highest level of all milk producing regions.
The survey also found just under half (47pc) of WA farmers were operating steady at a level they wanted and 25pc were in an expansion phase.
But WAFarmers dairy section president Phil Depiazzi was wary of the results.
"Although I agree with the results, if farmers are buying a new ute it counts as an investment," he said.
"So as far as major investment goes there are a lot of guys deciding to wait and see where the industry is going before spending the big dollars."
Mr Depiazzi said with almost half of WA dairy farmers operating at a steady level it showed that they were not getting the market signals they wanted to even consider growing their businesses.
"They are all happy to operate as efficiently as they can at an optimum level, but they aren't prepared to push the boundaries or go into a growth phase while they are assessing where the market is," he said.
Dairy Australia senior analyst Norm Repacholi said high grain prices and challenging conditions early in the season have seen WA milk production decline.
"Improved farmgate prices have not been enough to lift production above last year," he said.
Interestingly, just 42pc of farmers across Australia were positive about the future of the industry.
It is much lower than the 66pc of positive farmers in the 2012 survey and was the lowest level of confidence recorded since 2004.
A total of 1000 farmers were surveyed across Australia in February for this year's National Dairy Farmer Survey.
