A whole range of products, including organic lamb, skincare and milk, are becoming more and more sought after. Recently, organic milk has seen an increasing rise in demand, and makes for a great beverage of choice next to your organic steak.
Growing demand for organic
The Organic Dairy Farmers of Australia co-operative is growing exponentially. Collectively, they produce over 23 million litres of organic milk every year. Furthermore, they contribute 75 per cent of the national organic milk supply.
Consumers pay between 25 and 30 per cent more for organic milk than non-organic milk from companies such as Murray Goulburn and Fonterra. With more people choosing organic, farmers of the co-operative in northern Victoria, the Western District and Gippsland are being rewarded for their efforts to maintain their organic standing and continuing to produce top quality dairy.
The value of organic
Those in the industry are recognising the increasing demand for Australian organic products. Just recently, the huge British household products company Cussons, who are best known for the Imperial Leather line, brought Five:am, the Melbourne-based organic yoghurt company.
Bellamy's Organic is a company that sells organic baby-milk formula to China has been valued on the Australian Stock Exchange at $124 million.
To the future
The co-operative uses a third of its farmer's organic milk for their own brands, such as True Organic and ODFA to make cheese, butter and long-life milk products. These products are exported to Asia, namely China, Singapore and Hong Kong. The next step for the co-operative is to build their own value-adding manufacturing facilities and work on cost efficiencies – using profits in the most effective way possible so they can continue to grow.
In the next three years, there is set to be another 40 per cent growth in milk production in order to meet the increasing demand. This has resulted in more farmers turning to organic farming methods and techniques working towards becoming certified, joining those leading the way in the organic beef industry.
