With the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) about to be enacted, we need to know that 17,700 tonnes of European cheese will be imported into the Canadian marketplace. The challenge is that the European dairy industry is subsidized while the Canadian dairy industry is not. Hundreds of Canadian cheese manufacturers will be negatively impacted by these imports and that will cost all Canadian dairy producers a total loss in revenue of $150 million annually.
As with roads and bridges, the government recognizes that infrastructure investments produce positive economic response in local economies. The federal government designed the Dairy Farm Investment Program (DFIP) to support farmers who want to increase their farms’ efficiency and productivity. With 20 per cent growth in the dairy market since 2014, farmers are responding with massive investments in state of the art technology and new equipment. The DFIP program allows dairy farmers to apply for some assistance for their projects. They first have to invest at least double the amount applied for with a cap limit for each farm.
Mr. Manders expresses concerns about low income families having trouble affording healthy food. The Canadian dairy system ensures that the cost of milk to Canadian consumers remains stable and consistent. Ontario dairy farmers are committed to supporting Ontario food banks. Dairy farmers in Ontario are the largest contributor to the Ontario Association of Food Banks by donating close to 1,000,000 litres of milk annually.
The claim that Canada’s milk marketing system is in place to prevent competition and keep prices high is not accurate and there are studies (Neilson Milk Price Study 2016) that show that milk in a regular grocery store in Canada is in fact less expensive than the equivalent hormonefree milk in the U.S. and/or New Zealand.
Dairy producers are not the reason for high food prices. One thing to remember is that the dairy industry is one of the very few that have to purchase all of our inputs at retail cost and we sell our raw product at wholesale price. Processors and retailers set the marketing price of milk and dairy products.
Source: The Recorder & Times (Brockville)
Link: https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-recorder-times-brockville/20170930/281663960207759