UDV President, Chris Griffin, believes the Victorian dairy industry is one of Australia's modern success stories. Dairy is the largest export industry in Victoria, and is now Australia's third largest agricultural industry. Last year, more than $2.8 billion of Victorian dairy products were exported to markets in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The UDV represents dairyfarmers on a range of grassroots issues at state and local government, the dairy industry, and the wider community. The UDV provides dairyfarmers with a voice on issues as diverse as electricity pricing, animal health and natural resource management.

As a member-based organisation, the UDV maintains a vibrant network of branches and regional district councils setting the policy agenda for the dairy industry. UDV membership keeps members in touch with their local dairy community and up-to-date on the most important issues facing the industry and their farm businesses.

The UDV has a proud record of working constructively with government and dairy industry organisations to achieve positive outcomes for all dairyfarmers, including assisting farmers with seasonal variations, advocacy on animal welfare, and a variety of farm business issues. Today, our members continue to work towards the vision of "providing dairyfarmers with an operating environment that gives opportunities for a rewarding future."

DAIRY SHARE FARMING TOOLKIT

The UDV/VFF Dairy Share Farming Toolkit is now available to members. The Toolkit contains a range of resources, including contractual templates that cover Victorian legal requirements and can be tailored to suit individual needs.

This Toolkit is a vital resource for new and experienced share farmers who want to make sure any arrangement they are entering is fair and equitable, and to assist with reviewing and strengthening existing share farming agreements. The UDV strongly encourages the use of written agreements when entering share farming arrangements. Many of the issues we deal with – and a significant proportion of farm-related legal disputes – arise because of a lack of written agreements, and poor understanding of the implications of various aspects of share farming.

The information and contractual templates in this Toolkit have been specifically developed from a Victorian perspective. While The People In Dairy website also provides some excellent share farming resources, they are designed from a national perspective – however, the documents contained in this Toolkit address some key aspects of Victorian law that affect share farming businesses.

The development of this Toolkit was made possible through generous funding provided by the Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation, as part of its Community and People Development Program.

UDV/VFF members can purchase the toolkit for $70 plus GST, by contacting the VFF Workplace Relations team on 1300 882 833. Additional advice and assistance with tailoring the agreement templates is also available on a fee-for-service basis.