Western Australian Dairy Industry 5-Year Development Plan

Page last updated: Monday, 24 October 2022 - 3:05pm

Please note: This content may be out of date and is currently under review.

On 21 July 2022, Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan officially launched the Western Australian (WA) Dairy Industry 5-Year Development Plan at the WAFarmers Dairy Conference in Busselton.

The plan, developed by the WA Dairy Industry Working Group (WADIWG) emerged as a key priority from a Ministerial roundtable with the industry in 2021. It will play a major role in supporting future growth and sustainability of the State's dairy industry.

The WA Dairy Industry 5-Year Development plan can be downloaded from the right-hand side of this webpage. 

About the working group

The WA Dairy Industry Working Group (WADIWG) was established in June 2021, bringing together key dairy supply chain stakeholders, including farmers, processors, industry groups and government. 

Its goal is to support the growth and sustainability of the WA dairy industry, through the development this plan, which has been developed by indsutry, for industry and will now be implemented by industry.

It includes representatives from:

  1. WAFarmers
  2. Brownes Dairy
  3. Lactalis Australia
  4. Bega
  5. Western Dairy
  6. Dairy Australia
  7. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

The working group is coordinated by an independent Chairperson, Mr Brad Weir.

Focus of the development plan

The plan aims to increase profitability throughout the supply chain, by better understanding emerging consumer trends and responding to local and international market opportunities.

It will promote the industry with one unified voice, to attract new investment and talent into dairy farming, as well as optimizing opportunities to de-carbonise the supply chain.

The working group continues to work closely with Dairy Australia to ensure the development plan aligns, where possible, with the national dairy industry agenda.

As part of the planning process, the working group identified 6 priority goals to strategically support the WA dairy industry for the future.

The goals are: 

  1. Increasing profitability throughout the supply chain.
  2. Engaging across the supply chain and remaining aware of consumer and industry needs. 
  3. Growing the State’s milk supply.
  4. Responding to both local and international market opportunities. 
  5. Attracting human resources and new investment into dairy farming. 
  6. Optimising and de-carbonising the supply chain.

The next stage will include the strategic planning of a suite of projects to complement the 6 major goals within the plan.

The plan will play an important role in growing and diversifying WA's dairy industry into the future, particularly the ability to adapt to meet the rising expectations of the community.