Canada-wide milk pooling under discussion

Thursday, July 14, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

Dairy Farmers of Ontario chair Bill Emmott is one of two Ontario representatives who will negotiate details of a national all-milk pool if a committee of Canadian dairy industry representatives approves plans to proceed.

The other representative will be from the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission. Two observers will also be named – one representative from the Ontario Dairy Council and an economist from Dairy Farmers.

The other nine provinces will also be naming their representatives to the pooling negotiating committee if it goes ahead.

At the July 20 Canadian Milk Supply Management Committee meeting, a proposal outlining the mandate and parameters of the committee to negotiate all-milk pooling involving all 10 provinces is on the table.

Peter Gould, Dairy Farmers general manager, says the supply management committee will decide if it wants to go ahead with that process.

Carole Cyr, communications officer with the Canadian Dairy Commission, says timelines for negotiations have been proposed but not yet approved. “First they’ll have to know if there will even be a committee.”

Gould says Ontario, in principle, supports national pooling. “It’s a large country with a relatively small dairy industry and three or four national players on the processors side. It’s getting harder and harder to solve problems within provincial boundaries.”

Gould says “we just need to take a more national approach to the dairy industry.” BF