On Monday the deadline arrived for milk processors to announce their standard minimum farmgate milk prices and the feedback from farmers is mostly positive, but with some tweaks still needed.
Under the new mandatory Dairy Code of Conduct, processors were required to publish one or more standard forms of agreements on their website by 2pm.
Despite the change in how processors released their price offers, some fresh milk offers did still drop, but, as Paul Weir at Hiddenbank Dairy put it, that was to be expected given the current econmic uncertainty.
"Naturally as a farmer, you don't like to see the price go back, but last year was a record pay rate ... in the last three months they have been talking about a pay cut. I can live with that, especially with COVID - there was a certain amount of uncertainty," he said.
Mr Weir supplies Norco, his farm at Tuncester near Lismore, and with wife Sharon milks up to 400 cows.
Norco's offer was about 1.7 cents a litre down, but a greater concern he said was if we get a big second wave of coronavirus.
COVID-19 has significantly affected cafes and restaraunts and other food service sector businesses that use milk, which had dampened demand.
He said so far, the peak of COVID had coincided with the lowest production period for his region (April/May), but a second COVID wave, should it occur, could cause problems during their peak production months from September to November.
"I'd say they've (the processors) erred on caution and that's why they've bought the prices back."
While most processors had their prices out with hours to spare, some kept dairy farmers hanging until minutes before the cut-off.
And while the code gave agreements visibility, understanding them was another matter, said Queensland Dairyfarmers Organisation executive officer Eric Danzi.
"It was ... certainly a positive that processors are forced to disclose minimum prices all on the same day to give some clarity to farmers," he said.
"However, unless you've got someone to analyse the contracts, it makes it really hard to compare or figure out what the prices were."
South Gippsland dairy farmer and consultant Rebecca Casey was working on spreadsheets until late in the evening and said choosing the right milk supply agreement was far from simple.
"Farmers really need to be aware of what they're signing; they need to take the time to uncover the devil in the detail," she said.
"Some supply agreements are 10 pages long and others are 45 pages."
Colin Thompson runs Silvermere Holsteins between Cowra and Gooloogong, milking 320 cows three times a day for Lion Dairy and Drinks.
The NSW Farmers dairy committee chairman said this week's introduction of the code was a welcome "part of the answer" for the Australian dairy industry's woes, but also flagged the difficulty in navigating the prices.
We introduced a voluntary code in 2017 he said, but it hadn't had much of an effect, and the industry identified a need for penalties and enforcement.
"Otherwise what was the use?"
Mr Thompson said people had to remember the problems had been created by Australia's largest supermarkets.
He said Monday's release of processors' prices was welcome, but because they all had different methodology, it really wasn't a matter of being able to simply compare them.
"I think it was a rush for them to make the deadline," he said.
"The biggest obstacle for the dairy industry at the moment is homebrand milk, it's an abuse of power and has been bad for the industry.
"Basically the big supermarkets set a price nine years ago and haven't budged. If the supermarkets would lift prices to $1.50/L, that would take us back to where we were nine years ago when this all started.
"We can't lose sight of the real issue and that is homebrand milk brings the price of everything down and that's what matters."
Scott and Belinda McKillop, McKillop Pastoral Company, Dederang, Victoria, milk 380 Holsteins and said the biggest difference was that it was a minimum price rather than an opening price.
The McKillops might consider buying some cows, but this was more off the back of the strong prices they could get for their culls.
Likwise, they don't have any volume criteria or restrictions in their contract. Instead, because Freedom Foods is seeking more volume, they have a ready market for any extra they produce.
Adam and Donna Darley, of Golden Valley Dairy, Dorrigo, are second generation dairy farmers who milk 380 cows producing three million litres a year.
The Darleys, like Mr Weir, also supply Norco, and they too were reviewing the slight decrease in price, but also alluded to Norco's higher rate for signing long-term supply agreements.
"It's a loyalty payment structure within the supply agreements. They have reduced the base price and put some of that money back into loyalty and quality payments," Mr Darley said.
He said at this stage, while it had only been a couple of days, they were reasonably positive about the outcome in the present environment, which included the affects of the drought.
For them, it was about getting on a good footing to hopefully borrow for improvements and they were now "reasonably confident ... the future is a good one".
Dairy Connect director Terry Toohey runs Padua Park at Woodview near Casino, milking 300 cows producing two million litres for Lactalis.
He said there had been "a little bit of an increase" in the prices offered.
We held a board meeting with farm representatives on Dairy Connect who are spread across the state and supply different processors from north to south and we found some clauses in the contracts that will be referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
However, he said it appeared that farmers would have the option to cease their contracts or enter into a new one for new price, but they were still seeking clarification on this.
"It's taken along time to go forward and this is the first step in engaging with processors and the retail sector, to help us become more united together," he said.
"At the end of the day processors won't be processors if don't have farmers and retailers won't have milk if don't look after farmers."