A throwback to history or just what the doctor ordered for Australia's dairy farmers?

South Australian independent senator Nick Xenophon has called on the government to consider reinstating a national school milk program to help the struggling dairy industry and improve nutrition.

As Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce met with executives from the Murray Goulburn Co-operative on Tuesday to discuss the dairy giant's decision to slash prices, Senator Xenophon said a trial based on the 1950s federal government program would provide a "double benefit" for both children and dairy farmers.

The Milk for School Children program was first introduced by the Menzies government in 1950, centralising efforts of some states and territories to provide milk for school students on a daily basis.