So if supply management issue will save Canada then why not?

[Jay-mo]

SM is not working, all small dairies and dairy farms are gone, swallowed by millionaires. No diff than rest of AG. Sorry. Quotas should have always been allocated, never allowed to be sold. Then a certain size could have been favored to keep dairies small and local. Big mistake!

Good post, ya beat me to it. I think we agree.

[sawfly1]

yes it is enough,
but where do you want your milk $ to go ( don't care, maybe )
a little to Mexico in wages , a little to producers here or in the US.

and a whole lot to the dairy corporations on wall street.

because in the end it will eventually end up just like our wheat .

the consumer will end up paying the same . one way or another.
on the shelf and with tax dollars to keep farmers afloat.

just like the Weston's , make 50 cents a loaf and the farmer makes a nickel .
once the big corp.s control the milk business .
milk will be the same way .

that just seems to be where we are headed.

[jazz]

SM is not working, all small dairies and dairy farms are gone, swallowed by millionaires. No diff than rest of AG. Sorry. Quotas should have always been allocated, never allowed to be sold. Then a certain size could have been favored to keep dairies small and local. Big mistake!

The quaint notions of agriculture in Western Canada were shattered 30yrs ago

We were give 4 choices;

1. Cut costs
2. Get big
3. Diversify
4. Get out

Some people tried all 4...remember those poor SOBs who got into elk and emus?

But govt support was never on the table. Our ad hoc programs are reviewed every few yrs but they fail every time. A conscious decision was made to let western ag fend for itself. And here we are.

The only major positive for western ag is when they bred a GM weed we could sell.

[bucket]

Government policy drove the industry to get bigger and so called more efficient and yet consumer prices continued to rise....

Usually with efficiency comes lower prices like Walmart or sending plans to manufacture in China to reduce costs (and quality)...

It seems when you don't support smaller farmers eventually you end up supporting large corporate enterprises to the tune of many more dollars because these larger corporations have the politicians in the pocket...and can scare them with layoffs and economics....because most politicians are stupid...like Yerry...

[jazz]

We are going to see the limits of govt support in the coming yrs. Ag has already had its disruption. There are dozens of industries next in line including white collar jobs. If estimates are right, unless you are actively training to be a coder or a robotics expert, you will be unemployable.

[the big wheel]

We are going to see the limits of govt support in the coming yrs. Ag has already had its disruption. There are dozens of industries next in line including white collar jobs. If estimates are right, unless you are actively training to be a coder or a robotics expert, you will be unemployable.

Only because us farmers and rural people give our votes away for free

[pgluca]

We are going to see the limits of govt support in the coming yrs. Ag has already had its disruption. There are dozens of industries next in line including white collar jobs. If estimates are right, unless you are actively training to be a coder or a robotics expert, you will be unemployable.

Jazz In my opinion you have been absolutely correct in your posts on this topic. Since when is one or any industry entitled to be a "Small (likely inefficient) business" with tax payer support. You either have to go completely socialist and support everyone (they presumably all pay taxes). And, as a result have a lower over all standard of living combined with much higher costs. Or everyone should compete and we can reward efficiency and competency, with no supports and tax payer handouts..... Now I can hear a lot of screaming about other countries (American) subsidies and in my mind that is the only justification for tariffs. A half in half system supporting some industries and not others just distorts the market and creates colossal inefficiencies which cause things to be produced in areas they shouldn't be and subsidies capitalized into land, quota etc.

[the big wheel]

Well kinda tired of the can't give you what other countries get because it distorts things only distorts things for us if we aren't in an equal playing field because of those subsidies.
Which brings us back to we need to be raising that issue much more than we are. But our oil puppets here and the queens in Ottawa have no care or clue about it.

[the big wheel]

And if we're going to all out and discuss subsidies to industries the oil industry has been subsidized to the max here in Canada so maybe ya let's get rid of it all but I mean al not just the ones that are paying the politicians under the table.

[DaneG]

If dairy gets negotiated away one could guess that there would be a fair amount of start up direct marketing of milk and cream etc by small operations because there would not be a need for a lot of the protections rules and laws that currently surround supply management.