Terence Corcoran: Hey Canada! Happy Milk Price Hike Day
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On World Milk Day, Canadian farmers make their move
Publishing date:
Jun 03, 2022 • June 3, 2022 • 3 minute read • 8 Comments 
A photo published on the Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) website shows DFC president Pierre Lampron raising a glass of milk in celebration of World Milk Day on June 1. Photo by dairyfarmersofcanada.ca Article content
Just before June 1, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched its annual World Milk Day to recognize “the importance of milk as a global food.” The FAO urged the world to join the 2022 campaign. “The celebration starts with the Enjoy Dairy Rally May 29-May 31, culminating with World Milk Day,” which was Wednesday. The theme this year aimed to acknowledge the contribution of global milk farming and production to climate action.
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Ah, but this is Canada. On May 27, just before the celebrations got underway, the Dairy Farmers of Canada filed a request to the Canadian Dairy Commission, asking for a surprise mid-year increase in the farmgate price of milk. The commission, which acts as price fixer for Canada’s supply management regime, had already granted farmers a price hike of 8.4 per cent for 2022, the largest increase in history. Now the farmers’ group wants another increase, to take effect in September.
Not surprisingly, the head of the Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC), Pierre Lampron, did not mention the price increase application when he appeared on the group’s website with a big smile and a glass of milk in hand (see photo above). “Join me on June 1st as we raise a glass in honour of the 20th anniversary of World Milk Day!” Only after the celebrations did Lampron’s organization announce its plan.
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News of the requested price increase was released on Thursday by the dairy commission, a federal Crown corporation, which said that the farmers promised they would allow the deduction of the value of the new price increase against further price increases that might be brought in at the end of the year. The farmers issued their own statement on the request for what they called an “advance price adjustment” in the future farmgate price.
Lampron’s name does not appear in the DFC’s statement, which said dairy farmers are facing “skyrocketing” prices for fertilizer, fuel, animal feed and other inputs.
No doubt farmers of all kinds are under major inflationary pressure as the global economy adjusts to the impact of massive doses of government spending and monetary expansion, along with price pressures created by the pandemic and war in Ukraine. But the DFC manages to twist farmers’ inflation pressures into a unique situation that requires regulated action — to raise prices.
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In its statement, the DFC also portrayed its members as innocent and powerless price takers compared with big colluding corporations. “Unlike producers of other goods and services, who can adjust their prices behind closed doors, the farmgate price of milk is adjusted in an entirely open and transparent process through the CDC. This transparency is one of the many benefits Canadians get from our supply management system.”
It’s not often that Canada’s dairy supply pricing and quota system is described as open and transparent. The current application, as part of a government price regulation system, will be reviewed behind closed doors.
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The DFC then proceeded in its statement to describe the dairy supply management regime as the great protector of Canadians against the ravages of supply-chain disruptions. After the challenges of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the DFC said, “Canadians understand, as perhaps never before, how vulnerable they are to supply chain disruptions. Self-sufficiency in our food production is essential; supply management is a pillar of food sovereignty that has and will continue to protect Canadians now and into the future.”
The evidence suggests otherwise. One reason Canadians already pay higher prices for milk, cheese and other dairy products is the supply management system that deliberately creates supply chain barriers to imported milk and cheese. The United States and New Zealand say Canada’s tariff protectionism is in breach of trade agreements, depriving Canadian consumers of lower-cost foreign dairy products. The U.S. recently filed a formal second complaint against Canada. “Canada’s protectionist dairy policies are a top concern for the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Biden-Harris Administration,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Canadians should also have dairy protectionism as a top priority, with a view to celebrating World Milk Day instead of Milk Price Hike Day.
• Email: tcorcoran@postmedia.com | Twitter: terencecorcoran
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