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WIMMERA supermarket shelves are painting a picture of how the region is supporting the country’s dairy farmers.
Shelves in some supermarkets are devoid of some milk products, with shoppers opting to buy branded items to support dairy farmers instead of supermarket-chain products.
The federal government announced a package on Wednesday to help dairy farmers reeling from milk price cuts, which processors Murray Goulburn and Fonterra announced three weeks ago.
The package includes $555 million for dairy recovery concessional loans; $2 million to establish a commodity milk price index; and $900,000 for an extra nine Rural Financial Counsellors to support farmers in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and NSW.
The government will also fast-track Farm Household Allowance applications, and appoint a dairy industry liaison officer.
It comes after the state government announced an $11.4-million support package on Tuesday.
It includes a $5.2-million industry contribution, $240,000 for the Rural Financial Counselling Service, and $220,000 to appoint two United Dairyfarmers of Victoria support workers to help farmers.
Member for Mallee Andrew Broad said the government announcement was welcome news after a testing period.
He said the government valued the contributions dairy farmers made to regional communities.
Mr Broad will attend a meeting at Cohuna with dairy industry representatives on Thursday.
