A sledgehammer to the Cdn dairy industry

[GDR]

Any dairy farmers on here? What is the current price they're getting?

I'd be very surprised if getting rid of quotas actually brought down prices in store as well. The quota system could use some tweaking sure, and the regulations, but I personally feel it's a leading reason for why Canadian dairy farmers aren't in the pickle dairy farmers are in in other countries like the U.K. and even US and NZ. The market would simply get saturated with milk.


If you really feel milk costs too much, get a cow. There's nothing in the law saying you can't drink your own milk. Just that it can't leave your farm.

Before you go out and get a cow for milk though, maybe try pencilling out the costs of raising a cow, feeding her, and labour and time spent milking her then compare it to just buying store milk.

Milk price is currently .81 / litre. Not sure if there is any more to the equation like freight or quality premiums etc. 4L jug about 5.50 in store or $1.40 per litre. Good ratio for return to farmer.

All the power to them, retail prices are like taxes. Once public is accustomed to an amount it will never drop.

Keep the quota system but some size restriction to keep families involved and not corporations would be good for Agriculture.

[sofa.king]

Heard a woman on Gormley show saying how ending supply management will help a single mom trying to feed her kids I tend to get the smell of corporate bullshit in the air. I have no opinion either way on the quota system but I do know we will always pay way more than u.s. consumers no matter what is decided.

[grassfarmer]

Milk price is currently .81 / litre. Not sure if there is any more to the equation like freight or quality premiums etc. 4L jug about 5.50 in store or $1.40 per litre. Good ratio for return to farmer.

All the power to them, retail prices are like taxes. Once public is accustomed to an amount it will never drop.

Keep the quota system but some size restriction to keep families involved and not corporations would be good for Agriculture.

In Scotland today you could buy a litre at Tesco (who screw the producers most) for 86c Canadian money. My parents buy from a local farmer who bottles his own and delivers to the doorstep for around $1.38/litre. Price paid to the farmer there probably averages in the 40s cents but has ranged from 20-50c over the last year depending on different contracts and high/low price periods.

I agree GDR that perhaps a quota cap per operation a few years back would have been a good idea. When you have a system that makes a 70 cow herd profitable guys don't need to be milking 500 cows.

[grassfarmer]

An OpEd from a Wisconsin dairy producer. Doesn't blame Canada and doesn't mention supply management.

[URL="http://www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com/single-post/2017/04/19/Milking-Scapegoats"]http://http://www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com/single-post/2017/04/19/Milking-Scapegoats[/URL]

[sgbotsford@gmail.com]

My understanding was that before supply management came in, there were extreme fluctuations in the price of milk -- and that sometimes poor parents couldn't afford it for their kids.

Putting a price on quota just means that you have to borrow money to make the bank rich.

We need a system that smooths out the ripples some.

I have a kid who works for me sometimes. His dad is a goat dairy farmer. Goat milk goes for a premium, but not a big enough one to make it worth while milking something that gives 2 liters a time. BUT there is no quota on goat milk.

They have a system where you get one rate based on your minimum month last year. And a lower rate for anything over this amount. This means you work hard to keep your supply even.

But goat milk is far from a necessity.

I can see merit in keeping the quota system for drinking milk, but scrapping it for milk for any other purpose. Right now cheese is a luxury -- it's made with milk that is from the higher price quota system.

Thoughts?

[fjlip]

For sure we would love CHEAPER cheese. It's healthy fermented dairy. We don't drink milk any way, very hard to digest, takes 12 hours in your stomach/gut, and the protein makes all the calcium unavailable to humans. Sorry, dairy guys.