To many dairy farmers, Murray Goulburn is much more than a milk processor. It’s their co-op. I know, it was my co-op too. For the record, our farm had always been a dairy co-op member for generations, even before MG was formed, until just before the partial float.

But sometimes, that zeal can backfire. It’s counterproductive to say farmers can leave the co-op without penalty and then openly consider placing special conditions on returnees. Zealots also look foolish, or callous, publicly arguing black is white in an attempt to airbrush the hurt caused to so many since April. Nor is it okay for them to harass anyone – as I was this weekend in private messages – who simply points out inconvenient facts. Aggression is not the path towards conversion.

As MG director-elect Craig Dwyer pointed out on Twitter this morning, the fish rots from the head.

And this is where Murray Goulburn is at a crossroads. Until the April trading halt, it had been travelling at what the then MD Gary Helou loved to call “break-neck speed” towards its vision of becoming a “first choice dairy foods company”. The co-operative ethos had faded into the background.

Over the last few years, MG’s culture has moved away from that of a real co-op towards a company. “Each for all and all for each” once graced the cover of MG’s annual report but in its submission to the Senate inquiry published just days ago, MG revealed there were many more “special deals” than many had suspected (see below).

Excerpt from MG Senate Inquiry into the Dairy Industry submission (p. 10)

The zealots often lament the treatment of MG by the media and commentators like me. The reality is that this scrutiny offers the co-op a massive opportunity. Everyone is listening and the story MG could tell is compelling. It is the last big Australian dairy co-op (with apologies to Queensland’s Norco) and many – even those who have fled MG – still cherish the co-operative spirit. We just need to know that MG does, too.