Farmers call for free milk to be brought back and given out to all students in schools to benefit children’s health and rescue their dying industry
- Victorian dairy farmers are calling to reinstate the free milk at schools program
- Farmers are struggling under increased costs and adverse farming conditions
- Less than 10% of children are meeting their daily dairy health requirement
- Farmers unions believe reinstating the program can help solve both problems
Dairy farmers are calling to reinstate the free milk at schools program to boost children’s health and strengthen their industry.
Farmer Paul Mumford wants the government-funded Milk for School Children program to come back to benefit his dying industry and supplement children who are lacking dairy in their diets.
‘Lets get governments backing an industry, but more importantly, child nutrition, that’s probably more important,’ Mr Mumford told Sunrise.
Dairy farmers are calling to reinstate the free milk at schools program to boost children’s health and strengthen their industry. Pictured: An Australian schoolgirl drinking milk in 1953
Victorian farmers are struggling under huge increases in the costs of irrigation water and feed for their cows, which are now six times more expensive than two years ago.
A study carried out by the Dietitians Association of Australia found that less than 10 per cent of nine to 18-year-olds are reaching their daily dairy requirements.
Mr Mumford believes restoring the program which ran from the 1950s until the 1970s could help to solve these problems.
Paul Mumford (pictured) believes the program will alleviate stress for dairy farmers while providing nutrition for children
‘Yes it will help the industry, that will see an increase in milk consumption here in Australia, but I think its personally more about food nutrition and good nutrition for our children,’ Mr Mumford said.
The Victorian dairy industry has been put under strain in recent years due to drought conditions, the Murray Goulburn milk price crash, and an increase in alternative milk consumption.
‘Farmers are just getting tired and drained, they’re constantly under duress, under financial stress, under mental stress, and we’re seeing waves of milk leave the actual industry because they’ve just had enough,’ Mr Mumford said.
‘They cant survive any more, so it’s quite a problem.’
The Victorian state government already provides milk to 500 state primary schools as a part of their breakfast club program.