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HUNTINGDON dairy farmer Ian Lindsay had pleaded with the mid-north coast community to start buying more local dairy products.
Dairy farmers in Victoria are feeling the squeeze with massive cuts to milk prices meaning they are barely breaking even, if at all.
Australia's largest milk processor, Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co. Limited, last week told its farm suppliers in Victoria it had been paying them too much this financial year.
They have cut the price of milk so severely that farmers say they are selling their milk for less than what it costs them to produce it. The same could happen here in NSW.
It has prompted a push by Aussies to support their farmers by buying local dairy products at the supermarket, rather than cheaper no-brand alternatives.
Mr Lindsay gave a first-hand insight into what the future might look like for the dairy industry.
Murray Goulburn is a farmer cooperative. It's the biggest collector and processor of milk in Australia.
Murray Goulburn supplies milk to a range of different companies after sourcing the product from farmers like Mr Lindsay.
Coles is one such company. Coles sells its milk for $1 per litre and Mr Lindsay said it is hurting farmers in the pocket.
"They are hurting our families. We now have to compete because instead of people buying the other brands for slightly more, Coles is selling their cheap milk and it's going into their pockets," he said.
"Everything else you buy in Coles is compensating for the loss they make on the milk. It the worst thing they ever did from a farmer's perspective."
Farmers like Mr Lindsay are not paid per litre of milk but rather by the kilograms of butterfat and protein produced in their milk.
It takes 10 litres of milk to make one kilo of cheese. Mr Lindsay milks cows 365 days a year, twice a day and produces on average 7,000 litres of milk every week.
Due to the current state of the overseas market, other countries can't sell their products overseas.
This means they must dump it on the domestic market in Australia which in turn affects all Aussie farmers who get paid less for their dairy products as a result.
Mr Lindsay said NSW dairy farmers are "100-percent better off" than Victoria farmers, but urges people to spend the extra money on local products.
"I feel sorry for everyone in Victoria who are suffering worse than anyone else, so let's make sure it doesn't get bad here in NSW," he said.
"Please don't buy the cheap milk. Support us, which is helping us and showing the supermarkets that what they are doing is hurting us and our families."
You can play your part and help hard-working Aussies by purchasing branded products, like Norco, Dairy Farmers or Devondale brand milk and dairy products.
"Steer clear of the Coles brand. That will help us as Aussie farmers in the long run, before things get really bad," Mr Lindsay said.