The family-owned grocer Harris Farm Markets is removing all $1-a-litre milk from its shelves across its 24 stores in NSW, in a bid to support the local dairy industry.
In place of the $1 milk, Harris Farm has introduced the Farmer Friendly Milk range that sells at $2.29 for two litres, which it says reflects the true cost of production, allowing Harris Farm to return 95 per cent of the sale price back to the cooperative and on to the farmers who own it.
The retailer says that without the price pressure on the processor to extract as much of the butter fat to create margin in other dairy products, Farmer Friendly Milk is a higher-quality milk (than its $1 counterpart) – and creamier, with a higher butter-fat content of 3.6 per cent.
Announcing the milk changes in December, Harris Farm Markets co-CEO Tristan Harris says the new milk represents great value for customers but not at the expense of farmers
“We understand that people want good value on products they use lots of every day,” he said. “However, we believe most people don’t agree that it should be cheap at all cost, including the costs of lives and livelihoods of Aussie farmers.
“As a family-owned business, we knew we wanted to make a difference where we do have control, and after seeing the uproar from farmers, advocates and the public on $1-per-litre milk [in 2016], we were compelled to change our approach to milk.”
Harris Farm will continue to stock a wide range of milk from a variety of suppliers, and continues to work with these suppliers on transparency around pricing, to ensure a fair go for the participating farmers.