Price break offered on online quota bids

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

It will soon be cheaper for dairy farmers to conduct quota transactions on the exchange if they do it online through the Dairy Farmers of Ontario website.

As part of several administrative changes being introduced later this month and starting with the February quota exchange, the fee for farmers who enter their bid to buy or offer to sell quota online will be $5. That’s $10 less than the current fee of $15 for each use of the online service or the telephone option, Milkline.

Dairy Farmers quota rules stipulate that farmers can’t make more than one offer or one bid in the same month and can’t sell and buy quota on the same exchange.

Under the new system, farmers without Internet access can enter bids or offers by calling a customer service representative toll-free at 1-866-518-2525. The fee for this option will be $15.

The organization is discontinuing the Milkline option for quota transactions as of Jan 20. After that date, Milkline will only be available for farmers to check their milk composition test results.

Bill Mitchell, Dairy Farmers assistant communications director, says the majority of the province’s 4,200 dairy farmers conduct quota transactions online.

Jim Millson, Dairy Farmers board member for Region 5 (City of Kawartha Lakes, Durham and York regions and Peterborough), says the quota changes are administrative. “There are no changes to policy.”

“It’s just to make things easier for staff to deal with the number of requests to buy quota,” says Millson, who is chair of Dairy Farmers quota committee.

Millson says he has been using the online option for some time and finds it quite easy. “It’s in front of you to see.”

Enabling farmers to use a customer service representative is an improvement over Milkline because people will be talking to a person instead of “hoping you pressed the right numbers into your machine,” he says.

Mitchell says the expanded online quota exchange system will include a self-editing feature similar to computer systems that won’t let you make an entry that doesn’t make sense. That will eliminate the possibility of making mistakes when entering bids or offers for quota.

Lynden-area farmer Ben Loewith says expanding the online quota exchange system is a step in the right direction. He started doing his quota bidding online three months ago.

Compared to Milkline, the chances of making mistakes when entering bids online are reduced because “you’re reading it right on the screen,” he says.

“The phone system was a very good technology for its time,” Loewith says. “Now there’s just better, simpler ways of doing it.”

Farmers who don’t have a Dairy Farmers website account and want to use the online option for quota buying and selling, can have one set up by calling the organization at (905) 821-8970 and asking for the help desk. BF