One of the Northern Rivers' most well-known brands is celebrating its 130th birthday today by making old-school milk deliveries to primary schools throughout the region.

Norco is Australia’s oldest 100% Australian farmer-owned dairy co-operative, and the last operating dairy co-operative in Australia. It was formed when a group of 40 farmers gathered under a tree in Clunes in 1895 to discuss how they could come together to secure a better future for the farmers of the region. 

This morning, CEO Michael Hampson and the Norco Culture Cow visited primary schools, including Wyrallah Road Primary School in East Lismore, bringing back the famed 'school milk program'.

Kindergarten students lined up to get their bottle of Norco milk to drink before receiving high fives and hugs from Culture Cow and Norco hats or milk trucks as gifts to celebrate the milestone, as Norco paid tribute to its heritage and the region where it all began back in 1895. 

(Students from Wyrallah Road Public School enjoy their Norco milk this morning)

"We all remember the School Milk Program," said Mr Hampson, "Maybe some of us are a little bit older than others. It is just a fantastic way to bring back some nostalgia, a blast from the past, to say, here we are giving out milk, showing people what it was like back in the day, when we were able to get milk at school for free.

"The kids were amazing. Plenty of fantastic manners, which was excellent. Some people saying it was the best day ever. So it was good to see them engage and have some high-quality milk. Have fun with our Norco Culture Cow, and really help us celebrate what is a fantastic occasion for Norco, its farmers and its communities."

Angie Wilson works as part of the administrative staff at Wyrallah Road Public School; she remembers the days when milk was a daily experience at primary school.

"When the phone call came through for the milk program, I was very excited, because it's something I remember very well. My experience through primary school is we would break mid-morning and we would go out and find crates of this beautiful, glistening milk in bottles like this, in glass bottles with the little tin foil lids. And we would be so excited.

(Angie Wilson with one of the original milk bottles that were delivered to primary schools up until the end of the 1970s)

"I think it is a wonderful idea, because I think it would connect our students to the rich heritage of our iconic Norco and other milk farmers as well. Also, it helps us to educate them in the nutritional benefits of drinking fresh, great tasting milk, as well as, importantly, acknowledging our hard-working farmers who make this all possible.

Angie grew up on a vineyard, so she knows the hardship of farming, but also has friends who are dairy farmers.

"I want to support them wholeheartedly, our small businesses and our farmers, all of them, in every way that we possibly can. So, if bringing this in is in any way going to help support them, then yes, please do so."

Michael Hampson stated that Norco has 45 dairy farms that supply milk to the coop and 190 farmers across their footprint, which includes South East Queensland.

Dairy farming has not been easy in the last three years, and this last run of bad weather has increased the pressure on farmers in the region. The weather event in 2022 cost Norco over $100 million, along with staff who lost their homes and farmers who suffered devastating losses and heartbreak.

"It's been a tough road for recovery, for everyone in this region, not just Norco, but we are proud to say that we are continuing what we can do best to support the region by providing significant economic activity jobs and supporting our farmers.

"For the farmers in the Taree and Port Macquarie area, they've just experienced something similar that our region experienced in 2022, and for some absolutely, it's no different, or even worse. The event that's just occurred, don't forget they had two, they had Cyclone Alfred, then the east coast low, but they also had four months of incessant, persistent wet weather.

"Farming in the wet is 100 times harder than farming in a drought. Farming in a drought is about price over feed conversion ratio. In a wet, there's animal health, there is a whole lot of harder work that goes on for dairy farmers. And you know, certainly my heart, and I think the heart of everyone, goes out to the farmers that are impacted in that area.

"It's been a very difficult time for the farmers, particularly around Kempsey and Taree. There's been a lot of widespread devastation and destruction of farms down there, and it will be a long time before those farms recover. Yes, the milk intake from that region will be down. However, we will be looking to source additional milk to be able to make sure that we're providing fantastic, high-quality milk for our customers.

Mr Hampson said that while farmers' damage bills are still being fully assessed, he believes each of the farms will have losses over a million dollars.

"Certainly, some farms that I've talked to have a one to one and a half million dollar impact from that one event alone, notwithstanding the impacts of the four months of wet weather leading into it, and, of course, Cyclone Alfred.

"We are obviously in a wet cycle. Some of the pundits say that that's going to be ending shortly, or, if not, in September. But we do look to the future. Farmers are resilient people, but they do need our help. They need the help of government, also in terms of these critical, devastating times, which, at the moment, the consumer can't pay for all of that impact.

"We are still in the cost-of-living crisis. We're still in an environment of very high interest rates. One 25 basis point interest rate doesn't change too much on someone's mortgage. As we've just seen over the last couple of days, we are technically in a recession with negative GDP per capita growth. So we don't have the business confidence, the consumer confidence, to drive significant increases in prices. Otherwise, we would not be able to sell the amount of milk that we do."

"We need to be supporting Australian businesses. We need to keep our money right here in this country and also right here in our regional communities, where it's needed the most. The regional communities, when it comes to natural disasters, bear the brunt of the vast majority of those, particularly our farmers, because that's where we have to farm. We have to farm in areas that are fertile and lush, which are generally in valleys, river plains, etc, etc. So, they're the people that really need support, and the best way to support farmers and to help them through this is to buy their product."

With farmers having such a tough run over the last three years, and during the last three months of wet weather, how is their mental health?

"As we know from the farmer wellbeing report that we commissioned in 2023, 70% of farmers don't feel that the Australian public values what they do. Now that's terrible. Imagine everyone here today thinking that no one values what we do, and the average cost to a farmer of these natural disasters is over a million dollars.

"It will have significant impacts across many, many, many farms, particularly seeing animals that they truly love and care for and have done since they were born, and indeed participated in the delivery of those animals, have unfortunately passed away or had to be put down over this period. It will be very, very difficult.

"There'll be long-lasting memories out of this for our farmers; we have our own farmer wellbeing officer, who we've been getting in contact with farmers to help them and providing them other outreach services, including counselling, just to help them through this initial time. But, there will need to be ongoing help through this. It's not just a one-day, one-week, one-month issue; this is something that's going to be in the minds of many farmers and people in our regional communities for many years, just like 2022 was for Lismore.

Being a cooperative, you can help farmers by buying Norco milk in the supermarkets. Farmers like fourth-generation Andrew Wilson, who has been supplying Norco for almost three decades.

“Being a Norco dairy farmer is more than just producing great dairy. It means being part of a 100% farmer-owned co-operative that backs its farmers and supports its local communities.  

“It’s a great source of pride for not only me, but my whole family, and we truly appreciate anytime someone chooses to buy Norco, because when they do, every cent goes back to support farming families like ours, and for that we are genuinely grateful,” Wilson said.