Food processing poised to become Ontario’s top industry

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Comments

The reality of agricultural life in Ontario is that we fall all over ourselves to drive companies like Chobani right out of the Province because of our misguided, and wrong-headed, support of supply management.

Secondly, the lack of dairy exports and the declining absolute consumption of dairy products here in Canada, thanks entirely to supply management and the highest farm gate price of milk in the world, has driven dairy processing companies like Saputo to invest in Latin America, not here.

Thirdly, the antics of the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) to restrict supplies of milk to a 1% per year increase to award-winning artisanal cheese makers such as the one recently featured in a series of articles in the Financial Post, means that even the best product, and even the most-substantial demand, count for nothing when dealing with DFO's "command-and-control" mentality.

There's absolutly nothing our food processing companies need, or want, except to get rid of the farmer-controlled systems which force them to pay the highest farm gate price of milk in the world, and even then, artificially restrict the supply of it.

Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON

Give vanilla soymilk a try! Delicious and full of vitamins also.
Most health conscious people in Japan already have switched. Given our exponential increase in health conscious Asian-Canadians perhaps explains why milk is on the decrease and healthy soymilk is on the increase. Quite often on sale at your local store.

Soymilk is not "milk" it is a liquid derived from mainly GMO soybeans

Are you sure it is GMO soys or Non GMO soys ?
are you sure it is not from IP Non GMO soys ?
You make it sound like it can only be made from GMO soys .

GMO corn and soy, and an additional environmental cost of greenhouse gas emissions, excrement [sadly, often a pollutant rather than fertility resource], and anti-biotic resistant bacteria.

In Canada, dairy farmers are allowed to import BST for their own use, and don't have to disclose the fact that they used it - thereby making soy milk, even from GMO soybeans, just all that much more appealing.

Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON

Lets not forget what Country developed BST and approved its commercial use..the good old US of A.

The first point is that somebody originally tried to infer that soy-milk is somehow less than advertised because of the possibility it came from GMO soybeans. I then pointed out that because consumption of soy-milk is increasing, while consumption of cows milk is decreasing, dairy farmers should pay attention.

Another person went on to point out that cows milk comes from cows fed GMO soybeans and GMO corn which, in turn, makes it less than advertised. I then pointed out that cows milk, in Canada, is even less than advertised because, in the US, most BST-free milk is labeled as such, but, in Canada, it is not.

The main point has nothing to do with who developed what, and in what country it was developed, the point is that if soy milk is less than advertised in Canada, cows milk is even substantially-less than that.

Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON

Leave it to the USA to put a BST-free label on Milk, knowing full well the drug is undetectable! Then charge a premium for it!
l was in Connecticut a few years back and relatives had Premium priced Ultra-Pasteurized Milk on the table,l commented,whats next "SuperDuper Ultra Pasturized"!..leave it to the Americans!

As long as sales of this soy product are increasing, and sales of cow milk are decreasing, that's the only thing that matters, and dairy farmers are as dumb as rocks to be dismissive about it - and, besides, soybean farmers aren't bragging about having the highest farm gate price of soybeans in the world.

Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON

Would have been nice to see some Government money given to the Alliance to help out with some of those recommendations,if the Liberals can hand OSPCA 5.5 million a year they can shirly give a helping hand to a growing industry that has potential for many more jobs!

Last I checked soymilk is made from IP non GMO soybeans because most Asians will not accept GMO in their food or drink. However, Dairy cows do not seem to care if they eat GMO soybeans which are then converted to milk.

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