For bucket re supply management

[stonepicker]

Hopalong, I think this is one area where Canada's national habit of "being nice" counts against us. Sure, our trade competitors will bring up these issues in negotiations - but it doesn't mean we should roll over and surrender. The US periodically bails out its dairy farmers by buying and culling huge numbers of their cows. This fall again they bailed out their dairy farmers with direct subsidy payments as well as bailing out cheese companies by buying their surplus product and donating it to food banks under their section 32 legislation.

The EU spent $750 million on just one bail out that I'm aware of this year. Paying farmers to produce less. In previous periods of low milk prices the EU has run Intervention whereby they buy in and store surplus dairy products. Of course the European dairy farmer also gets his regular "single farm payment" subsidy in addition.

Canadian supply management is the best dairy strategy in the world in my opinion because it is based on forcing the processor to pay a fair price for raw milk, involves no Government subsidy and results in dairy prices that the average consumer has no trouble in affording. After all the percentage of household consumptive expenditure spent of food was under 10% last figures I saw.

There's arguments for both sides of SM, always will be. But tell a young farmer who wants to get into dairy, that his biggest cost is gonna be the invisible milk quota. In grain or cattle a young farmer can start. Not in dairy imo.

[grassfarmer]

There's arguments for both sides of SM, always will be. But tell a young farmer who wants to get into dairy, that his biggest cost is gonna be the invisible milk quota. In grain or cattle a young farmer can start. Not in dairy imo.

In dairy people have always been able to pay the quota off over time though - because milk production is profitable under SM. Destroy SM and it'll be easier to get into dairying - but will new entrants be able to make a living? Sure, quota makes it a higher cost operation to buy into but so does irrigated versus non-irragated crop land, productive tame pasture versus bush and slough. There are different entry price points throughout agriculture just as farmers, and prospective farmers, have different depths of pocket.

Perhaps cost per acre is the wrong way to look at it? Many family dairy farms can make a good living on a quarter or certainly a half section farm. How many thousand acres does it take to provide the same income for a grain farmer? With the price of land and machinery the investment to become a profitable grain farmer is maybe closer to the dairy farm than you think. I don't know - you tell me - how much grain land it takes to support your own family well and in addition maintain a workers family with a $50,000 salary? I know quarter section dairy farms that can provide that kind of return.

[bgmb]

Ok, lets take the dairy mentality with every industry in Canada. Screw exporting oil we will keep the price at $100/barrel and have a tiny industry, export nothing. Boy that will be great the oil producers will be making a very good profit on a small volume. Who cares about all the wealth creation and jobs we could have if we dropped the price and played on the world market.

How about cars, the automakers are always struggling lets close the boarders tight and raise the price of cars that way we can have a healthy domestic industry and pay 70,000 bucks for a prius.

You're right grassfarmer why limit it to dairy and feathers lets have it for all and we can all prosper and have a very high standard of living in our utopian bubble called Canada.

[grassfarmer]

It doesn't occur to you that milk is maybe a different kind of commodity? A necessary food product and one that's highly perishable. Sounds like a Ritz plan - trumpet a "market access" breakthrough on the other side of the world, subsidize the processors to upgrade their facilities and stand back and watch prairie dairy farmers get paid less than the cost of production and fight an ongoing battle with the railways to see if they can get the milk hauled to Vancouver before it goes off. Sounds like a winning plan eh?

[bgmb]

Yes food is perishable, Milk, eggs, pork, beef, chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, fruit..... milk probably keeps as long as many fruits and veggies. By the way you can freeze, condense and powder milk. Maybe we need a supply managed fruit and vegetable industry in Canada. Regardless, pretty obvious SM has ridiculous special treatment in Canada at the expense of everyone else in the country.

[bucket]

This may or may not make sense but I only look for one brand of milk.

Occasionally we pick up a different brand and go back to dairyland.

[sumdumguy]

Remember when you were the teacher's pet, well Supply Management is the government's pet, more than likely because dairy farms are concentrated in the big "Quebec". Like em or hate em, those boards have been pretty efficient at lobbying for their farmers (and controlling supply), not much like our organizations.