Australians should pay 10 cents extra for each litre of milk to help drought-stricken dairy farmers, the Queensland Farmers' Federation says.
QFF chief Brian Tessmann is backing the push by the Queensland Dairy Organisation to impose the levy through the major supermarkets.
"If people want to keep local milk, local farmers in each of their regions around the country ... we need to move the price up," he told Melbourne radio 3AW on Tuesday.
"Farmers deserve an increase just like everybody does. Farmers are really copping it at the moment.
"Not only are they down with their returns for a very long time, they now have their costs because of the drought go up."
More than 9000 people have signed a change.org petition calling for 10 cents a litre milk levy to help farmers cope with the soaring cost of grain and fodder for milking cows.
They want Coles and Woolworths to collect the levy by increasing prices and for milk processors guarantee to pass the full amount back to farmers.
