The latest round of compensation payouts to dairy farmers for lost market share through international trade deals will be complete by the end of the month.
This second round of the Dairy Direct Payment Program brings the total number of dairy farmers registered for compensation to 9,682.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Thursday that total payouts will hit $459.4 million once delivered by the end of April, 2021. Originally, the government had given itself eight years to roll out the compensation package, but says now it will complete the commitment by 2023.
Canada’s 10,095 dairy producers had until March 31 to sign on for this latest payout round of the program.
The Government of Canada has now made up to $813 million available to Canada’s dairy producers under the first two years of this $1.75 billion program.
The program compensates for concessions made under the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), in addition to a $250 million on-farm funding program for improvements, triggered by CETA.
Under the program, dairy farmers receive payments on the basis of their milk quota. Up to $345 million was made available to dairy farmers in 2019-20, and $468 million was made available in 2020-21. Up to $469 million will be made available in 2021-22 and $468 million will be made available in 2022-23.
The Canadian Dairy Commission is mandated to make these payments.
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