Milk Price Wars – Clover Hill Diaries – Join Me and Be the Change

Growing the Australian dairy industry is not all about farmgate price

ABC reporter Catherine McLoon has eloquently reported today on the Productivity Commission report into the Australian dairy industry found here

In a nutshell the Productivity Commission report says that without added incentives dairy farmers in Australia have no motivation to increase production.

“Productivity gains by farmers have underwritten profit in dairy manufacturing and sustained the industry in recent years.

“A lot of the context for this sort of inquiry has been an expectation that we will grow the industry as New Zealand has grown its industry,” Mr Harris said.

“If we are to do that, we will need to provide incentives to farmers to continue to take the sorts of productivity enhancing measures they have to date.

“That will probably involve improvements to the working relationship between manufacturers and farmers.” Says Commission chairman Peter Harris

It also says if processors want more milk and they do as the slide below shows they are going to have to get more creative and the commission believes quite rightly that paying an increased farmgate milk price is not necessarily the answer

Slide from David Lord’s CEO of Saputo’s presentation at PICCC 2014 Think Tank

In the first instance to the processors defense they can only pay what they get out of the marketplace. For those processors supplying the international market the export market is definitely a roller coaster. For example awesome returns last year now predicted to be horrendous in 2015/16 and that will flow back to the farmgate as the recent announcement by Fonterra NZ shows. See post from Milk Maid Marian here

‘Processors are paying the highest possible prices relative to the trading conditions. says David Lord CEO Saputo

On the domestic front we all know it’s a nightmare supplying a duopoly with the power that Colesworth have

At a farm level dairy farmers do tend to talk far too much about farmgate price instead of focusing on what’s left over when they take out all their costs. As we all know using the used car analogy it’s not what you get paid for your used car that counts it’s the price difference between the new car and the used car.

So how can the processors get creative and work with their farmers to ensure that they have enough money in the bank at the end of each month to make the investment in blood, sweat and tears worth it?

David Lord recently outlined the Saputo model going forward

According to Mr Lord

‘There are significant improvements to be made in efficiency gains over the way farm systems currently operate:

· Maximising individual farm performance and profitability;

· Effective extension programs that spread best practice and attract broad participation;

· Transitioning of farm assets into the hands of those who want to grow

The extent of the impact will be determined by decisions taken by farmers; debt / equity position, stage of life, optimistic / pessimistic outlook, quality of farm assets, appetite for change…

Also what struck me from this presentation is there is HUGE room for improvement in the way our dairy farmers are perceived by their processors

Slide from David Lord’s CEO of Saputo’s presentation at PICCC 2014 Think Tank

As you can see Mr Lord classifies his suppliers in this instance as

Model Farm
Reluctant Improver
Resistant to Change
Likely to Exit.

Mr Lord was asked by the audience how many of Saputo’s Australian suppliers fit into the ‘Model Farm’ category and if my memory serves me correctly his answer was 30%. No-one asked him his definition of ‘Model’ but I think the other classifications make that fairly clear.

It would very interesting to do a survey of all Saputo’s Australian suppliers and ask them which category they believed they fitted into

Mr Lord also made it clear that the processors needed to get very market savvy and focus on Australia’s areas of strength which are underpinned by our reputation for quality

Slide from David Lord’s CEO of Saputo’s presentation at PICCC 2014 Think Tank

So if all the other Australian processors perceive their farmers to be in the same categories as Saputo Australia and 70% are either reluctant Improvers, resistant to change or likely to exit how does the industry work with the reluctants and the resistants and support those likely to exit. Or better still how do we as farmers work with our processors to change those images and perceptions and descriptions of ‘reluctants and resistants” ?

I recently met with Dairy Australia’s new whizz kid in this space former private consultant Neil Lane and as it turns out Neil is putting together an extensive array of programs to help our Australian dairy farmers get fair returns for their efforts and very importantly have the capacity to ride the peaks and troughs.

I have invited Neil to provide an outline of his model with my readers.

According to Neil Dairy Australia’s new Farm Business Management program is still in development stage with a proposed roll out in early in 2015.

The planks will

1. Imbed farm business management and analysis principles across the industry so that we have consistent and correct use of terminology and metrics in farm business analysis

2. Offer capability building programs that will include a series of capability programs covering Farm Business Management skills required across the spectrum of Novice (thinking about applying of an ABN) through to Expert where a successful farmer looking to better utilise their skills and their balance sheet. This type of capability building would also be targeted across all sectors of the industry including but not exclusive to service providers, milk processors and researchers.

3. Provide better tools to help farmers manage their farm business. The first initiative planned will be an energy driven milk feed and milk budget that links to a cash flow budget.

4. Roll out DairyBase which is a queryable database that will house physical and financial performance farm data sets and allow for more detailed farm business analysis across the spectrum from individual farm level to industry analysis. This will help farmers to ask the questions they need to ask about their business and provide a tool which will allow them to benchmark their own business year by year against their own previous performance.

I look forward to sharing what is happening in this space to support our dairy farmers from both an industry and processor supported level with you over the next 12 months.

I look forward to the day when the CEO’s of our dairy companies talk with pride about all their farmers.

Lets not forget farmers have ownership of what’s in their control and it’s time we acknowledged we too have a pivotal role in determining our profitability and the way we are perceived. Profitable farmers are empowered and able to invest in innovation, technology, employ and give back to the landscape and the cows that underpin their business success. Market savvy farmers also realise how they are perceived plays an important roll in their leveraging capacity

Once we have a majority cohort of financially literate, confident and proud Australian dairy farmers (and only then) will we have a strong foundation for the Australian dairy industry to grow and grab the opportunities as they arise.

We are all in this together. Let’s embrace it

Some great food for thought can also be found at David Edgerton’s blog found here

Another great grass roots initiative to help build farmer capacity to ride the peaks and trough from from James Walker can be found here Agrihive

Fair go Woolworths I am shocked and disappointed

Can you believe Woolworths said its 2014 first half profit was up 14.5 per cent to $1.32 billion, or up 6 per cent ( Read more ) yet they expect vegetable growers to help fund their fee for engaging James Oliver

Apparently Woolworths thinks everyone deserves a better deal EXCEPT farmers

Goodness gracious me Woolworths this is disgraceful Veg growers slam Woolies’ Jamie Oliver fee and I am confident that Jamie Oliver will be just as mortified as me that this is happening.

Ausveg says growers have received requests from Woolworths to voluntarily pay a charge towards the costs of the new “Jamie’s Garden” promotion, equal to 40 cents a crate of produce sold to the supermarket.

While Woolworths says the request is voluntary, Ausveg national marketing manager Simon Coburn says growers are not in a position to say no.

“The growers feel like they are in a position that, if they were to say no, they are worried that their contracts would be reduced or terminated completely,” Mr Coburn said.

He said growers already paid a charge of 2.5 per cent to five per cent of their sales back to Woolworths to cover marketing costs, and the 40-cent charge was in addition to that.

The cost would range from a few thousand dollars to $250,000 for a grower, depending on the size of their contract, he said.

“Some are telling us they don’t have 40 cents left in their margins,” Mr Coburn said. Source AAP

Follow up media

Has Jamie Oliver been burnt by Woolworths media

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/blogs/the-hermit/jamie-oliver-burnt-by-woolworths-partnership-20140618-3aadz.html

http://www.smh.com.au/national/woolworths-recalls-jamie-oliver-toy-over-safety-fears-20140618-zsbdj.html

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/business/jamie-oliver-to-tackle-woolworths-over-vegie-levy/story-e6frg8zx-1226961808359?sv=e5efeb36f1aaf373557dd0b4427781f#mm-premium

and what is the ACCC doing about it. Quite a bit actually

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/are-supermarket-giants-simply-too-big/story-e6frg6z6-1226961691069#mm-premium

Coles show a little respect

As farmers we all know its not smart to criticise our customer. In this instance the customer is Coles but I think you will all agree when you see this presentation by Coles’ general manager of corporate affairs, Robert Hadler,which he titled Coles-the Consumer Champion! A Reputation Management Case Study that Coles is not your typical customer nor fits my definition of a champion.

I mean just what sort of ‘person’ buys a product and devalues the people they bought it from and skites about how they manipulated the people they sold it too.

“every PR tactic possible to neutralise the noise” around its move to drop the price of milk in supermarkets to $1 a litre.’

The Coles Down Down Down $1 milk campaign made me livid for two reasons

Firstly it devalued our wonderful amazing cows showcased on YouTube below by dairy Young Farming Champion Tom Pearce

Tom Pearce the dairy farmer who puts the cheese on your cracker

Secondly no matter how much spin Coles put on it – the Coles $1 milk campaign almost bought the NSW dairy industry to its knees

Another of the Art4Agriculuture Young Farming Champion’s Cassie MacDonald was so incensed by Coles $1 milk campaign she penned this now iconic infographic which has had over 20 thousand YouTube hits that blew Coles original infographic out of the water ( I note Coles have now taken it down )

The Guardian makes some strong comment about Mr Hadler’s presentation here

I give you a few take outs from the article Coles boasts about media campaign to silence ‘milk war’ critics

After two years of a PR effort to persuade Australians that the major supermarkets’ “milk war” is not harming small dairy farmers, Coles has been caught out boasting about its successful media campaign to silence its critics and “win the day”.

His (Robert Hadler) presentation, entitled Coles – the consumer champion! A Reputation Management Case Study, was delivered to the Centre for Corporate Public Affairs (CCPA) in June but was no longer available to download on the CCPA website on Sunday.

It identifies significant negative “noise”, or unfavourable coverage, for the supermarket’s “Down Down” milk campaign, which peaked in the third quarter of 2011, the same year the price drop was brought in, and shows the regional press as reporting the most negative coverage in that time period.

The presentation goes on to identify the importance of guarding “against a political and regulatory response” to the supermarket’s drive to push down the price of milk. It also says that the “agri-political fallout continued after the ‘Down Down milk anniversary’”.

The presentation then details how Coles implemented new media strategies, including a social media campaign, the use of “fact sheets to debunk myths” and fresh advertising.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It describes a “game changer” moment in the so-called “milk wars” as the implementation of multi billion-dollar ten-year deals to source milk directly with two farmer cooperatives,announced in April this year, which brought about an “immediate shift to positive coverage”.

See the full presentation here

Now you will notice this slide features some of our twitter agvocates TWT Dairy writer Simone Smith, NSW dairy farmer David Williams and the dairy industry champion of champions school teacher Lisa Claessen who is so incensed by Mr Hadlers presentation she has relaunched her petition in which calls Coles to task

Lisa says

I am not a dairy farmer, I’m a consumer in a rural area who has seen the fallout in my community. My inspiration came from two young men whom I taught, from a dairying family, and an insight into the struggles they were ensuing as a result. I am not anti – supermarket. I live in a region that relies on them. All I would like to see is a fair go, a compromise from Coles, that reflects the consumer’s desire for value, and allows the dairy farmer to operate sustainably. We need to support these guys so they can continue to deliver a beautiful product which we often take for granted.

I read something this morning that left me gutted for our Aussie dairy farmers, and as I read through, I couldn’t help but feel angered…
I leave you the link to peruse –http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/800088-reputation-coles.html#document/p5
This document has been doing the rounds through the media and on tv.
A tweet regarding this petition appears on one of the pages, along with a triumphant tone from Coles, congratulating themselves on the outcome of their patience with the objection over discount milk pricing.
Along with a wish for a desperately needed Code of Conduct for Supermarkets, I have a strong desire to carry on with this petition.

Please pass this petition on to someone else to read and sign. If we can pump up the petition numbers further, we are sending a message to Coles, especially whilst there is media attention, that our farmers have been treated shabbily and without consideration. The above document is most telling.
Yours
Lisa Claessen

Coles I don’t know what your definition of champion is but as far as integrity, authenticity, commitment, aspiring to excellence in my mind our Aussie farmers will win the red, blue and white sash everyday

When all the power lies at the top of the supply chain the country loses

I have reprinted this great post from Jan Davis CEO of Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers found here

Farmers fight for balanced diet

August 23, 2013

Wesfarmers, owner of the Coles supermarket chain, last week announced a $2.26 billion net profit for 2012/13, aided by Coles’ contribution of $1.53 billion, 13 per cent up on the year before.

That’s good. We want to see Australian companies making healthy profits.

However, I’m bemused by the comments made by the bosses of both Coles and Wesfarmers that, despite their Down Down, Prices are Down campaign that has seen food inflation as low as 1.1 per cent, Australians are still paying too much for our food. They intend to cut prices more.

If you look at where we stand internationally, the argument is unsustainable. In Australia, we now spend about 10 per cent of our incomes on food – which is one of the lowest levels in the world. According to a study undertaken by the Washington State University, this is less than consumers in Scandinavia, where people spend an average of 11%. In China, consumers spend 39 per cent of their earnings on food; the figure is 44 per cent in Indonesia. If you lived in Azerbaijan, you would spend 48.5 per cent of your income on food.

Even more importantly, the proportion of our income that we spend on food has continued to fall each year in Australia, whilst our average incomes have risen. According to government surveys, our proportionate spending has halved in thirty years. People now consider to be basic essentials that previous generations could only dream of – flat screen TVs, brand new cars, overseas holidays, private school education etc etc – and that means there is less money directed to food spending.

I understand these are average figures, and some Australians are worse off than others, but we are not exactly at risk of starving, are we? At some point, we need to recognise the unalterable fact that you get what you pay for – and it is simply not possible for Australian farmers to produce safe, nutritious, quality food at ever-diminishing prices.

It’s not rocket science to work out that Australian farmers can’t defy the forces of gravity – they can’t continue to survive with increasing input costs and decreasing farm gate returns. Everyone knows that $1 per litre milk is not sustainable. The only way retail food prices in Australia can continue to fall is if supermarkets import more and more cheap foreign products that don’t meet the standards we expect in terms of safety and quality. Is that what we want?

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission seems to be in a constant state of scrutiny of the supermarket behaviour: whether they exercise unfair market domination for groceries and petrol, or their alleged bullying demeanour towards suppliers. Yet nobody seems to be able to address the real issue – that the Australian grocery marketplace is distorted because of the Coles and Woolworths’ duopoly.

We all know that increased profits for the supermarkets, and cheaper food prices for consumers, come at a cost. And we all know that it is Australian farmers who end up paying these costs in food prices.

Our beef is that, at the bottom of the food supply chain, it is Australian farmers who are getting screwed on price. Studies show that, while we live in an affluent society that pays less each year for food, 86 per cent of shoppers are still driven by price.

We need a reality check here. There has to be an equitable balance between returns to farmers, the prices that retailers charge consumers, and the profits that those retailers make.

Profit is not a dirty word. It is good for Australian companies – including supermarkets – to make a profit. However, farmers run businesses too – and they should be able to expect to make a reasonable living in return for their hard work and investment.

Contact Jan Davis
0409 004 228

Dont tell me to wake the frack up

I must admit I am very bewildered by what appears to me to be very mixed messages coming out of our peak industry body Dairy Australia at the moment

According to Steve Spencer from Freshlogic (the same organisation that counts Coles as a major client ) in the Dairy Australia Horizon 2020 report it’s time we (dairy farmers/dairy industry) woke the “frack up”

Slide 27 from Steve Spencer’s Horizon 2020 presentation at Dairy Innovators Forum in Queensland Feb 2013 See article here

According to the report the aim of the Horizon 2020 project is to also ‘raise the sights’ above short-term preoccupations which have affected industry priorities in recent years.

The report reminds us that market volatility (inputs and outputs) is a fact of life with a critical question for all parts of the industry being ‘ How to motivate people to ‘look long’ adjusting their businesses and attitudes to accept the cycles of the market and cashflow as inevitable?’

As part of Dairy Australia’s motivation strategy they are rolling out this ‘Feel Good’ campaign ‘Australian Dairy is Legendairy’

As an aside How I met Your Mother’s Barney Stinson would have been the ideal candidate to put a smile on this dairy farmer’s dial

Every man and his dog has widely acknowledge that the dairy industry is in crisis in all states and likewise some sections of Dairy Australia who is also rolling out Tactics for Tough Times

Like me most dairy farmers I know are not growing their businesses anymore and are doing everything in their power to rein in debt and will continue to do so until they get clear market signals there is a future for the dairy industry in this country. I believe there is but now is not the time to take risks that you can’t justify in the current climate and like Milk Maid Marian I must ask the question of Dairy Australia.

How do you plan to measure the success of your Legendairy Campaign?

Will you for example be measuring?

a. Impact on Milk sales

b. How many new entrants into the industry

c. The reduction in numbers of exits from the industry

d. Improvement in farm profitability

Now is the time Dairy Australia to lead by example. The industry is in crisis we need rigour and real on the ground capacity building not Feel Good campaigns with no measurables

Its time to be part of the big picture Dairy Australia. Lets get fair dinkum. Lets get out of our dairy silo and have a collaborative and cohesive whole of ag sector voice. I agree with the Australian Farm Institute, its time to promote Brand OZ and I am confident this is what our dairy farmers want too if the hits alone on this post are anything to go by

What sort of dairy industry do we want

This morning I woke up to yet another round of what I see as bizarre cheering from the sidelines. Articles like this NZ drought Aus dairy’s boon and headlines of a revival in the fortunes of Australian dairy farmers because our dairy friends over the Tasman are doing it tough

I just don’t get it. If the only way dairy farmers in this country can survive ( let alone prosper) is reliant on climatic disasters in other countries then I say to everyone out there, there is something seriously wrong with the supply chain model for food in this country. I can assure you the Sophie’s Choice model just isn’t working for me and I am not cheering. Survivor remorse is not an easy burden to carry

Farmers so important yet so undervalued by supermarket price wars

We know the model is broken. We know there is far too much power at the top of the supply chain. Hagar Cohen and the team at ABC National Background Briefing opened the lid again on just how evil this is just last week See previous post here

As I mentioned at the bottom of this post I too spoke at length to Hagar. I was initially very wary of being interviewed for the program for a number of reasons which didn’t involve a fear of retribution. However Hagar is an absolute delight and after much consideration agreed. In the end 99.9% of what I had to say hit the cutting room floor but I did do a day’s prep for the interview and spoke to many experts before I decided what I wanted and didn’t want to say. Today I will share with you what I had to say because the supply model is broken and farmers do need to find a completely new way of doing business with the supermarkets and we cant sit around and hope somebody else will save us.

HC – Hagar Cohen ABC National Background Briefing.

What can you tell me about the state of the dairy industry and the domestic milk market in NSW?

LS – Lynne Strong

It has been estimate farm exits are currently running at about 40 % per year. 85% of milk in NSW is sold as fresh white drinking milk so there is a heavy reliance on supermarket contracts. Approximately 45% of NSW milk is sold through supermarkets as private label or homebrand milk and the supermarkets are the ‘price makers’ in this market.

As the largest players in the market, the supermarkets have used fresh milk discounting to increase sales in other sectors of their supermarkets. And it’s working Coles profits are up 16% (1.356Billion $ pre-tax earnings)

This is about all about the whole supply chain – we are all in this together we need each other. The milk price wars are hurting everybody down the supply chain. It’s not just the farmers who are being squeezed

HC – How have the price wars affected your business (bottom line, and emotional/ psychological impact)

LS- One of the big issues now is the capacity to recover from a disaster. Take the recent floods in the north for example. These dairy farmers are more impacted than they would be normally because of the lower milk prices they are receiving. They don’t have the financial capacity to recover from the continual flooding. They are now desperately asking the State government to help them finance the recovery. It has now become a cost to the public.

This region has had similar and severe impact from recent very sharp drought through spring and summer where farms and farm business did not have available cash surplus to feed and maintain their cows.

On top of this feed prices are up and like other farmers we had to extend our overdraft and take out loans to buy in extra feed. In our case the recent drought has meant hand feeding over 1000 cows

In fact it cost us 30% more this year to feed our cows through that period in comparison to the same time last year. Wages went up 20% I it took a lot of time to hand feed these cows.

The industry is extremely exposed at the moment. Many farms have had to lay off staff. This is increasing workload on those who stay is increasing physical and emotional stress. Repairs and maintenance are not being done; Environmental stewardship spending is falling by the wayside as farms have moved into survival mode

HC – How has your relationship with the processor changed since the milk price wars began (ability to re-negotiate contracts, quantity of milk produced, farm gate price, being paid retrospectively)

LS – I know there have been some very tense conversations between farmers and their processors. Like most Lion suppliers we have lost over 30% of our contract volume since the milk price wars have started. Our milk price per litre has dropped. There is huge uncertainty around price and what next year is going to be like. It’s hard for my son, my neighbours and others I have spoken to in the industry to plan for even one year down track.

We have had a lot of budget conversations and sleepless nights and we are not alone. This is very destabilising when you want to invest in on farm improvements for our cows and our landscapes and it’s has been very hard on our staff

HC- How do you feel about the ACCC inquiry, and how its outcomes may (or may not) change the dairy industry.

LS- The ACCC inquiry terms of reference have not yet defined. From a dairy industry perspective . The dairy industry moved from a regulated market to a deregulated market in 2000. We do not want to go back to a regulated market. However we are now in a deregulated market where all the power is at the top of the value chain.

This is not the how a deregulated market should work and it’s not working. This farmer/ milk processor/ supermarket relationship is a logical one and should not be abused

There is room for symbiosis here that provides for the sustainability of farm businesses, processors and the supermarkets while still providing locally produced, high quality product at affordable prices for the consumer with minimal food miles accrued.

But realistically the ACCC’s customer is the consumer. I am consumer too. It is however imperative that the ACCC considers the long- term implications of its recommendations and rulings on consumers. We know consumers want fresh, healthy cheap Australia produce and we are proud to be supplying 50,000 Australia’s with this affordable nutritious cocktail that is milk

But there is a difference between affordable or cheap milk and sustainable farm gate milk pricing. If the status quo remains I am confident no-one will win. Realistically after all milk is a staple it’s always been affordable

Increasing urbanisation in Australia has resulted in farmers and consumers been further apart than ever before. Sadly we have lost sight of each other. Its no-one’s fault it’s just the way Australian has evolved.

And it’s not just consumers, retailers and processors too have lost sight of on farm realities. It’s time to reverse this trend

So we need a new supply model where we can all work together and have a mutual understanding of the challenges and constraints.

Dairy Connect is working to do this in NSW for dairy farmers. As part of my Bob Medal Landcare win I am working with NSW Farmers Association to create a model so all Australians farmers can learn to engage with and have an active role in the way the supply chain operates

For the dairy industry we need to look at what sort of dairy industry do we want.

What sort of dairy industry do we need?

My vision for the future is an equitable supply chain for everyone. In an ideal world the outcome of the ACCC finding would be a mandatory code of conduct that protects smaller businesses in the value chain and provides equity for everyone

A job to die for

Now here is a job for a very brave person. Lion is recruiting for a National Business Manager Dairy – Coles. Personally I would rather be Julia Gillard constantly watching my back than take on this job that will surely lead to a stomach full of ulcers and antidepressants

National Business Manager Dairy – Coles

Would you like the opportunity to be the best you can be, really make a difference and have a great time doing it? At Lion, our success comes from Great people and Great Brands. We are Australia and New Zealand’s leading food and beverage company with great brands for every occasion.
We are currently looking for a talented National Business Manager to join our Coles team based at our Docklands site.
This role offers an exciting opportunity to join a motivated and supportive team of National Business Managers, responsible for driving above market growth in one of Australia’s largest retailers. This will be achieved through the development and implementation of strategic business plans, leveraging category insights and driving a promotional program to build our brands.
Key responsibilities include achieving volume and profit targets, managing the joint customer business plan and partnering on customer initiatives within the Coles Group. Fostering Strong customer engagement will be a key measure of success.
To be successful in this role you will enjoy being part of a collaborative team and possess a strong record of achievement in a previous senior marketing, category and/or key account management role. You will also possess:

strong business acumen and analytical skills
proven ability to successfully partner and negotiate with internal and external customers
strong people management and coaching skills
demonstrated previous key account management experience with sophisticated customers
significant knowledge of the FMCG environment (within a highly competitive grocery category would be welcomed)
relevant tertiary qualifications will be highly regarded (Marketing/Business/Commerce)

If you meet these skills and qualifications we look forward to receiving your application.

Brave warriors taking on the fight to rein in the power of Coles and Woolworths

This morning I listened to Radio National’s Hagar Cohen expose CASUALTIES IN THE SUPERMARKET WAR. It sent shudder’s down my spine and left me feeling sick in the stomach. You can hear the full podcast here

Background

The consumer watchdog is investigating Coles and Woolworths for allegations they abuse their dominance. The ‘Big Two’ control over 70 per cent of the grocery market.

As part of its well-known ‘down down’ campaign, Coles cut prices across a large number of food products in its stores nationwide. The company had always claimed that it absorbed the cost of those discounts through making its business work more efficiently. But now Mr McLeod concedes that the supermarket has been passing on the cost of the discounts to some suppliers.

The food industry has been going through a major restructure, with manufacturers finding it tough to operate in Australia because of the high Australian dollar, increasing labour costs and the supermarkets’ behaviour. Many are operating on wafer thin margins, while others have already collapsed.

Food producers are claiming their margins are being squeezed by the supermarkets’ appetite for profits, and one supplier has now alleged blackmail in confidential evidence supplied to the ACCC.

During the initial stages of the ACCC’s investigation into the supermarkets’ conduct, over 50 producers have approached them, on the condition of confidentiality.

‘Speaking to the ACCC, it puts these things out in the open,’ the anonymous supplier says. ‘Companies understand that it’s not isolated situations that they go through.’ This supplier claims he’s been blackmailed by a supermarket buyer.

‘At some stage we started feeling—and this is what I hear from other companies as well—that their behaviour was really blackmailing,’ the supplier says. ‘The supermarkets expect a certain quantity of sales from your products and if that is not met they request a lump sum of money to be passed on to pay for that shortfall. Or another example is being asked to pay to be on the shelf in the first place, and that would mean a lump sum that has to be paid.’

I spent a whole day with Hagar. At this stage people willing to speak out where few and far between but as you will see when you listen to the program many have now drawn a line in the sand and are helping pave the way for much needed change

I applaud the other gutsy suppliers, farmers and manufactures (and there were a lot of them – some who preferred to speak through pseudonyms and actors) who spoke out on out on Background Briefing. These brave warriors are taking on the fight for everyone in their efforts to rein in the power of Coles and Woolworths and get some balance and equity in the supply chain.

Firstly lets take a look at what the ACCC has unearthed and what it is investigating as a result of the initial 50 suppliers coming forward

From ACCC Chairman Rod Sims.

‘it is clear that both farmers and suppliers are terrified of it ever been known that they made the allegations’

Allegations include

Persistent demands from supermarkets for additional payments from suppliers above and beyond the negotiated terms of trade
Threats to remove products from shelves or disadvantage suppliers if claims for extra penalties were not met
Failure to pay suppliers negotiated contract prices
Conduct discriminating in favour of house brands

Radio National found examples like

Suppliers being charged an additional fee for

for using the supermarket technology system for ordering even though it only improves efficiency in the supermarket business and has no real benefit for the supplier
Love this one – a fee for customer breakages i.e. if the customer drops something or decide they don’t want a frozen product and leave it on the shelf somewhere else ( I despise people who do this) – a percentage is taken from the supplier to cover in store incidents irrespective of whether breakages occur or not

This extract from Tony Lutfi CEO of Green Wheat Freekeh is also a classic example

Here are just a few more things I pulled out of the Background Briefing expose that sent shudders down my spine

The example involving CRF was the most frightening one to me. How Coles got away with this I don’t know. If this isn’t unconscionable behaviour I don’t what is ?

Hagar interviewed Simon Ramsay former board member of CRF (nice website check it out) and now Member of Upper House in Victoria. Colac based CRF had a 10 year contract with Coles to supply lamb. Coles accounted for 90 per cent of CRF business and CRF was Colac’s biggest employer. In the eighth year of their contract CRF was put on the market. ‘Coles put in a bid that was 60% below the price shareholders eventually accepted’ said Simon Ramsay. Coles then told the lamb processor it would no longer buy CRF meat if it was sold to a rival consortium.

Coles’ actions seemed “like a classic dummy spit to me. We believe we gave Coles a very competitive price and good quality product,” Mr Ramsay said.

You can read more about this very chilling story in the The Weekly Times Coles dumps CRF. According to TWT the rival consortium withdrew its bid and Coles was left last bidder standing, but an 11th-hour bid from a new consortium EC Agribusiness saw CRF shareholders refuse Coles’ bid for the company. Coles re-opened a tender for its business and chose Brazilian-owned meat processing giant JBS Swift over CRF, ending a 10-year relationship. Good news story CRF is now trading well

Rosella, Australia’s most famous brand of tomato sauce went out of production this month when the factory that produces it in Sydney closed down and over 70 full-time employees lost their jobs. Rosella’s parent company Gourmet Food Holdings went into receivership in November. Gourmet Food Holdings also owns other well-known Australian food brands like Aristocrat.

Mr Fawcett sold Aristocrat to Gourmet Food four years ago. When he owned the business, he told Hagar that he relied on Coles and Woolworths as his two main customers.

‘Coles and Woolworths would represent around 62 to 63 per cent overall …. If you lost those two customers it would be death’ Mr Fawcett says

He says that large orders from the ‘Big Two’ retailers meant his company was producing 200 jars a minute, or around five semi-trailers a day. Such large orders meant that if his company had fallen foul of either of the major retailers, Aristocrat would likely have collapsed.

‘You’d have to reconsider whether or not you continued in business,’ he says. ‘The amount of money you spent on machinery—you just had to make that machinery work. If it didn’t work you’re in all sorts of trouble.’

And from the independent supermarkets

Fred Harrison CEO of Richie’s IGA . Fred says he participating in price wars against his conscious ‘We have got to compete. 90% of customers applaud us but 10% wont. We do stock a small amount of $1 per litre milk for those 10% but we promote the brands. We do this because we can’t afford to lose 10% of our customer base. I know I am playing into the hands of duopoly and it has had a big impact on our business … in fact it has halved our profitability. He went on to warn ‘when you remove layers of competition the powerful players can charge whatever they like – consumers will eventually lose’

I too spoke at length to Hagar. I was initially very wary of being interviewed for the program for a number of reasons which didn’t involve a fear of retribution. However Hagar is an absolute delight and after much consideration agreed. In the end 99.9% of what I had to say hit the cutting room floor but I did do a day’s prep for the interview and spoke to many experts before I decided what I wanted and didn’t want to say. I will share this with you in another blog post shortly

Special shout out to all the women in my life

Today is International Women’s Day and there are too many women for me to mention who inspire me

So I would just like to simply use this quote to say thank you to the doers and the supporters who light my fire and keep it burning

‘Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the people who get out of shower, and dry off off and do something about it who make a difference’. Patricia Nolan

I would also like to salute our cows

They inspire me. Every day they produce that affordable nutritious nature’s perfect nutrient cocktail that is milk on our farm for 50,000 Australians

Thank you cows – the queens of the dairy industry

They are an integral part of our team. They are part of our family. They are like a child you want to give them the best possible life you can afford to give

This is why the $ a lire milk marketing campaign upsets me so much as I feel it completely devalues what our cows do and I believe we all need to reflect on what our definitions of value are when thinking about Australian grown products.

I would also like to say a special thank you to the girls on our team who worked so hard on all those record breaking hot days in January to ensure our cows were comfortable and happy. I was there and I was moved by your super human efforts.

Sprinklers in the dairy – says cow comfort on hot days

Chrissy in the dairy shows the Young Eco Champions how to milk and care for cows on hot days

The girls would like to thank John who arrived with the super cold watermelon just at the right time

You get what you pay for

Isn’t twitter a great source of information and food for thought. Thank you Melissa Henry for drawing this article titled Horse meat – the hardest thing to digest is that it’s your fault from the UK ‘The Making Progress Blues~ A blog on the journey’ to my attention.

Forgive me author , I cant seem to ascertain the name of the writer of the blog but I am pretty confident it is not contributed to by the agriculture sector. I am sharing it with you for a number of reasons. The first reason is a highly positive one and that is I believe in the integrity of our domestic food supply chain in so much as Australians faith in the commitment of our farmers to supply fresh, affordable, nutritious food for our customers at every level and ultimately consumers is second to none.

Secondly I believe this post does highlight the dangers of taking this for granted. As consumers when all we value is cost and convenience with little or no thought to the ramifications to the people down the supply who are ultimately forced to continually ‘innovate’ to keep supplying this food at rock bottom prices. Now I am pretty confident that this type of ‘innovation” wont happen in my lifetime in this country. It is imperative however that as the consumers we keep remembering there are no free lunches. First the suppliers suffer and in the end we all pay whilst supermarkets like Coles profits go up and up and their executives take home million dollar wage packets in double figures.

I have reproduced the first part of the post below. You can read the rest here Horse meat – the hardest thing to digest is that it’s your fault .

Be warned like me you may find the post a bit confronting

No doubt you are outraged about the horse meat scandal. You have every right to be – criminality, profiteering, potential fraud, all have led to many people eating an animal they would probably prefer to see in the 3.20 at Kempton and possibly also ingesting dangerous veterinary drugs.

However, I’m going to come at this from another angle me at this from another angle and it’s this: it’s your own bloody fault. There you go.

I know, I know; you’re not happy. It’s not your fault is it? It’s the government, the supermarkets, criminals and Goodness knows who else.

But it’s not just them, you see. It’s you.

After a week of this story my patience has finally snapped, and it’s time someone told you a few home truths.

Many of us have been banging on for years about this stuff, trying to make you care about the need for better food labelling, about fairness for farmers, about the need to support local farms to avoid all our food coming from giant, uncaring corporate agri-businesses which churn out cheap product to feed the insatiable appetite of supermarket price-cutting.

We’ve been highlighting the unfairness of UK farmers being forced to meet 73 different regulations to sell to supermarkets which don’t apply to foreign suppliers, and talking about our children growing up with no understanding of food production and, more than all of this, about the way supermarkets have driven down and down and down the cost of meat to the point where people think it’s normal to buy 3lbs of beef (in burgers) for 90p.

And you wouldn’t listen. It was like shouting into a gale.

Through the years of New Labour, when farming and the countryside were demonised, you wouldn’t listen. You cheerfully chose to believe that all farmers were Rolls Royce driving aristocrats, as painted by John Prescott. You had no sympathy. You wanted a chicken for £2 and your Sunday roast for a fiver. Well, you got them didn’t you? And hundreds of farmers went to the wall. And you still didn’t care because Turkey slices were ten for 60p.

And now you’re furious, because it turns out that when you pay peanuts for something it’s actually not very good. Who knew eh?

And before you start, don’t even think about the “it’s all right for the rich who can go to local butcher’s shops but what about the poor?” line. The number of people who can’t afford adequate amounts of food is tiny – tragic and wrong, yes, but tiny. Supermarkets don’t make their billions from them hunting in the “reduced” basket, they make their money from millions of everyday folk filling a weekly trolley. You, in other words………….

This post is not just about truth ion labelling

This post is about equity for everyone in the food supply chain We do care don’t we?There is an election coming up. Let’s show we care and vote in the people who share our social conscience.