These were the questions weighing on the minds of dairyfarmers across Australia during a Dairy Live video conference last week.

In a first for the industry, the event - initiated by Dairy Australia, the Australian Dairy Industry Council and the Department of Primary Industries, Victoria - brought together more than 600 dairyfarmers across eight major dairying regions around Australia (including Mount Gambier) at the one time.

Another 1000 participated from their home computers, all keen to hear the up-to-date global outlook to help them make on-farm decisions.

The high-calibre line-up of speakers included Kraft dairy procurement director Mike McCully, Chicago, United States, and Belgium-based chairperson of Eucolait (the association representing the majority of European Union dairy traders) Jack F Baines, and with representatives from export and domestic processors.

The conference heard that in 2007-08 milk prices reached historical highs and many producers made significant capital investments, but few of these highly-geared farmers would have imagined the slippery slide in prices during the past eight months.

Dairy Australia has predicted a new season opening price of just 28 cents a litre to 29c/L and closing at about 33c/L ? in many cases below dairyfarm cost of production.

It appears that international milk prices have bottomed, but with the volatility of the currency and uncertain timeframe of a recovery in global economic conditions, none of the processors were willing to commit to price predictions.