Free State is estimated to have only 244 dairy farmers left.

However, MPO CEO, Dr Chris van Dijk, one of the speakers at the event, is hopeful that the cycle could be heading into more positive territory. He is urging producers to work as effectively as possible at farm level so that they can survive to reap future benefits.

“What the farmer can do within the farm gate – there are a lot of things they can still do to survive and take them forward into the future.

“If you look at the international milk price, it’s already 12% up. The Fonterra sale last week, the milk price was up 12%. So yes, I think there’s good times lying ahead for us."

He says milk prices have started improving locally and extremely high feed prices have also started to stabilise.

Provincial Chairperson Gideon Lamprecht also highlighted the difficult year and the impact on the spirit of producers. He says what is especially demotivating is the things that are beyond their control.

“What I tried to highlight in my report is that the farmers are very dispirited. There are very few factors over which we have any control – the drought we have no control over. International dairy situation also has an impact and we don’t always have much say in that and then milk prices we also don’t really have any control.

“So, farmers, on the whole, feel very powerless and we are being pushed into a corner.”

He says the situation with the liquidation of the Milk processor Montic last year left a lot of farmers facing huge losses.

“The Montic saga is pretty much behind us and there was unfortunately not really a positive outcome there. A lot of farmers lost a lot of money and for many of the farmers who have stopped producing that was the final nail in the coffin.

“At this stage it is looking a lot more stable in terms of the milk buyers now in place. But sadly it really hurt the industry.”

The national MPO Congress is meanwhile scheduled to take place in KwaZulu-Natal on 7 September.

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