dairy

A national restaurant organization is fuming over the Canadian Dairy Commission’s decision to increase prices for skim milk powder and butter.

Ontario dairy farmers and others in the P5 dairy group (Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) will see their blend price increase by $1.35 a hectolitre effective Sept. 1 as a result of increases in both the industrial and the fluid milk price.

International dairy exporter Fonterra expects to start online trading in milk commodities in July but those plans won’t affect Canada or Canadian dairy farmers because the industry here isn’t involved in world trade, say spokesmen.
 

In March, the clearing price on Dairy Farmers of Ontario's quota exchange hit $30,666 per kilogram of butterfat. The average price paid was $31,184. It's the highest quota price on the provincial exchange since the new quota policies, designed to keep the price low, came into place more than a year ago. Creemore producer John Miller says it's a wonder that the price hasn't been higher already.
 

LONDON - There’s a boom in the international milk market and Canada’s supply management system is preventing our producers from taking advantage of it, claims the president of New Zealand’s leading farm organization.

No one told Ben and Maria Berendsen that their Teviotdale farm, which they bought in 1981, had been a dumpsite for highway construction waste during the 1960s. The couple experienced sick and dying cows, personal health problems and financial woes before abandoning the property in 1994. Last week, Ontario Superior Court Judge Silja Sepi ordered the provincial Ministry of Transportation to pay the couple and their three adult children more than $1.7 million.