Dairy quota increase on the way

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario’s dairy farmers are getting a one per cent quota increase as of Aug. 1.

The Dairy Farmers of Ontario board approved the recommendation for the increase from the pool quota committee, made up of representatives from Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, last week. The increase will be non-saleable quota, says Phil Cairns, DFO senior policy adviser.

The committee recommended the increase because the “market conditions were improving and we had continued growth,” Cairns notes. Other factors the committee took into account were surplus butter stocks at the national level have come down and are at near normal levels and milk production in Ontario and Quebec is starting to decrease due to the hot weather.

Cairns says the committee thought it was time to get the signal out and let farmers know “the market’s there” and they have an opportunity to produce more milk.

The four eastern Canadian provinces along with Prince Edward Island share revenue from industrial and fluid milk markets and work cooperatively on other matters of mutual interest as part of a P5 all-milk poking agreement. Prince Edward Island is an observer at the pool quota committee. It hasn’t yet adopted the common quota policies the other provinces implemented last August. New Brunswick adopted the common quota policies this spring.

Cairns says talks are continuing and “we’re hopeful that P.E.I. will see fit to join in the non-too-distant future.” BF