Dairy trade and NAFTA

[grassfarmer]

So I can just buy a milk quota from anyone and start givener ? You seem to imply it’s that easy .

Buy it on the quota exchange - retiring farmers or those getting out put it up for sale. You bid for it, it's like buying land in a way - giving you the right to produce except with SM there is an established price you will be paid for your milk. If you are a good dairy farmer you can be very profitable but some fail just like in other realms of agriculture.

[furrowtickler]

AJL, Is your concern for the steel industry or resentment of the dairy guys? I really am a free market guy but I gotta tell you if all our ag sectors were supply managed we'd all be happier farmers; shipping logistics, timing the market, guaranteed profit, guaranteed sale, increased price as costs go up etc. Easy to be jealous of their system, but I still don't want to milk cows. It is frustrating when we keep hearing about it with any trade or WTO talks I Know. But I think it's more of an easy scapegoat for the Americans, other than some cheese products and a bit of fluid milk that may move into GTA and Vancouver I can't see it being a huge market for them. Milk is heavy and perishable product to ship.

What you do need to think about is how many extra tax dollars you are prepared to send in to facilitate this change. If it does get axed, that quota will be compensated for by all of us, whether or not you believe it ever should have existed.

Crop production can not , ever , guarantee production or quality , thus its its a non issue .
Yes it would be “nice” but 100% not reality .... ever .

[Horse]

Buy it on the quota exchange - retiring farmers or those getting out put it up for sale. You bid for it, it's like buying land in a way - giving you the right to produce except with SM there is an established price you will be paid for your milk. If you are a good dairy farmer you can be very profitable but some fail just like in other realms of agriculture.

Grass farmer. How much of the price of a litre of milk goes to pay for quota that was given for free in the beginning, same for chicken and eggs, its all a gimme and should never be allowed to be added to cost of production.

[ajl]

Right now a US farmer in Wisconsin or Michigan get about $0.48 Cdn per litre of milk while on the Canadian side they receive $0.80. At that price, there is plenty of milk in the US. I have consumed dairy products in Canada, the US, and Mexico. Doesn't seem to be much different so not sure how SM is helping the Canadian consumer.

[GDR]

Right now a US farmer in Wisconsin or Michigan get about $0.48 Cdn per litre of milk while on the Canadian side they receive $0.80. At that price, there is plenty of milk in the US. I have consumed dairy products in Canada, the US, and Mexico. Doesn't seem to be much different so not sure how SM is helping the Canadian consumer.

AJL if you think there would be a huge drop on the price for milk at the grocery store you are dreaming. it doesn't work that way, milk is barely more than pop, similar price to juice, less than beer, retail prices will not change if wholesale price goes down and if it does it will not go down to the Wisconsin price otherwise there will be no dairy industry in Canada, cold and short growing season makes costs higher and returns lower for dairy cattle also.

If the dairy industry implodes as you seem to be hoping for there would be a whole bunch more acres freed up to grow more grain crops and a whole lot less buyers of feed grains. How's that gonna help your grain prices.

Milk in US contains BGH, a banned hormone in Canada. Up to you to decide good or bad but it's there.

As for helping the consumer, of course it does, Milk is a staple a steady supply of milk on the shelves is pretty important. Supply management is designed just like it sounds to keep from having over supply hurting farmers or under supply hurting consumers.

[GDR]

So I can just buy a milk quota from anyone and start givener ? You seem to imply it’s that easy .

Yes you can if you got the bucks, or it can be leased and there is a program to help new dairy farmers which gives them a number of years to buy quota but still produce. They also increase everyone's quota periodically as demand increases for milk. ( I assume they can contract in theory if demand slumps but don't really know)

No question to get in is millions of bucks for quota cows and barn but is it any different for any farm?

Don't really know why I'm defending SM cause I don't really care how it ends but it's not the big bad thing it's made out to be by some. (Other than being a trade irritant)

[foragefarmer]

Tell Trump to screw himself regarding his tariffs, USA industry needs our steel and aluminum. You give into this, and next it will be agriculture produces. The USA Wheat Growers have Trump's ear and will be demanding this for wheat imports. They tried numerous times in the past when the CWB was around.

Can't understand why there is so much animosity on Agriville towards Supply Management producers on here, especially dairy farmers.

If one sector in agriculture is doing well, good on them. I'm thinking that most poster's on here could have easily got into the dairy industry when they first started out farming, but choose to go into crop production. Probably weren't willing to give up their life style.

This B.S put on here by some poster's claiming that prices for dairy would go down for Canadian consumers if USA dairy products could come in know very well this would never happen. Nothing more than a smoke screen to hid behind.

[ajl]

Some parts of the US like Michigan and Ohio, milk retails for around 1.75 Us per gallon which is half price as here so savings do get passed on. Areas with more retail competition have the lowest dairy prices which is often used as a loss leader. The average family of four likely pays around 200-300 per year of dairy tax to maintain this scheme in Canuckistan. I think this dairy tax is increasingly unaffordable for many Canadians who do not have government jobs as the rest of the economy slowly disappears around here.

[grassfarmer]

Quoting the firesale price in a region where there is a surplus to the point the industry is collapsing is not a valid argument for dismantling SM. Interesting that the Wisconsin producers affected by the recent diafiltered milk spat don't blame Canada or SM for their woes - they recognize that over production and marketing chaos is the cause of their woes.

Milk and dairy products have risen at comparable rates to the Consumer Price Index in Canada over the past 30 years.

The price consumers pay for a litre of milk in Canada is roughly similar to that in China, New Zealand, the EU and many parts of the United States.

[WiltonRanch]

We’re talking here about milk but what about feathers? Guys in that end tell me it’s no hell even with sm. COP for a chicken barn in Georgia so much cheaper even with freight still would compete up here.

[fjlip]

We’re talking here about milk but what about feathers? Guys in that end tell me it’s no hell even with sm. COP for a chicken barn in Georgia so much cheaper even with freight still would compete up here.

I get the idea that EVERYTHING can be done cheaper than here in a WARMER climate, CLOSER to larger population, with NO MOUNTAINS in the way to market.

[15444]

1.50 a litre here. Doesn't cost much more than that for a gallon in Minnesota. Drink about 3 gallons a week of it, so I subsidize the dairy cartel a fair bit in a year. No problem with US milk. Lots of co-ops that don't allow rBST anymore, probably more than 50% - one of the big reasons your seeing all the small dairies collapse in the Midwest - can't push those 40 cows to produce like 50 cows anymore.

Dismantle the SM cartel and then go after the forestry industry. Those pricks and government have gotten away with selling/buying cheap (aka subsidized) Crown wood bullshit for far too many years. Time for US to rip their nuts off properly. Put a 50% tariff on all wood products coming from Canada.