To add to the conversation..
When it comes to milk, the best thing you can do, is NOT buy the $1.99 milk, whichever brand it is, wherever it is.. The little guys, IGA's, farmers markets etc ALL buy milk from the same 3 manufacturers in WA, the Little guys feel they need to sell $1.99 milk to be competitive and still get customers through the door, thus the circle contnues and we still see $1.99 milk and no-one, I mean NO ONE makes any real money out of it...

I will state now, that I am a Sales Manager for Lion, owner of Brands such as; Pura, Dare Iced Coffee, Masters, farmers Union Iced Coffee, Yoplait, King island, Berri Juice, Daily Juice etc.

I would like to dispell a couple of myths for everyone.
At Pura, we get 95% of our milk fresh from our South west from the 37 milk farms we have supply contracts with. During the peak of Summer, (like Brownes & Harvey's) we do source milk from ours farms in South Australia, as the consumption of milk in WA out-strips what our farms in the south west can supply. During summer, less grass to feed, so need to artifically feed the cows and still cannot supply enough.

As a manufacturer, Harvey Fresh is no more local than us or Brownes. Brownes is owned by an investment company and Harveys owned by another international company. We all source milk supplies from farms in the South West of WA.

GTB's notion above is a fair one, however, another perspective is to bear in mind, they are still a "supplier" at the mercy of the Coles and WW of the world. The shift from supplier holding the power, moved to the retailer many many years ago.. When you walk down the Aisle of a supermarket, pay attention to how many items are on special, half price, etc etc.. Do you think the brand owners above are happy about their brand being de-valued through promotion specials every single day by the retailer.. Yet, they have to otherwise, the majors will dump them in favour of another supplier who can produce a similar product and prepared to offer at a cheaper price...

You can say the same thing down evey single aisle in a supermarket, every category is being de-valued, 1 at a time.. juice, eggs, milk, bread, confectionary.. etc

Hopefully gives some perspective.

I havent put the above out there to discuss further or argue, just to share some insight..