Bushfires put pressure on Australia's dairy sector

Although Australia's sheep, beef, horticulture and viticulture sectors have all been affected by the bushfires, the dairy industry was "more widely impacted" says Michael Harvey.

Stock and stored feed loss, infrastructure damage, pasture burn-out and the "logistical challenges" of tanker access and power cuts had put pressure on three key dairy production regions, Rabobank's Melbourne-based senior dairy analyst told The Country's Jamie Mackay.

"No one's put a number on it yet but some of the dairy companies are talking about clearly a couple of million litres of milk being lost so far with potential for the impact to linger on into the rest of the season".

Overall six million hectares of land had been affected by bushfires since August last year said Harvey.

"That's largely bushland but there's also a lot of grazing land in that affected area".

There were also reports that "upwards of 100,000" cattle "across different Ag sectors" had been lost said Harvey.

It wasn't all bad news for the dairy industry however, with "record high" milk prices in the Southern export regions of Australia, despite a "margin squeeze" due to the drought leading up to the bushfires said Harvey.

"The milk price is still a bright spot for the Australian dairy farmers".

Also in today's interview: Harvey talked about how New Zealand has overtaken Australia and the US to become the biggest exporter of food into China.