Wearing blue t-shirts that read “Canadian milk matters,” dairy farmers from across Ontario and Quebec rallied on Parliament Hill on Thursday. The event was organized to show support for supply management and to bring attention to a basket of import-related concerns, explains Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) president Wally Smith, in the interview below. “We don’t… Read More

One of the three declared candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, Maxime Bernier, boldly came out against supply management on Tuesday, and asked his fellow Tories to join him. In his statement, the Quebec MP and former Minister of State for Agriculture said that though the Conservative Party’s official policy supports the… Read More

As the US dairy industry struggles with low milk prices, a number of trends continue to drive a make over of the country’s dairy farm operations. Overall, the size of farm operations continues to grow rapidly, says Mark Stephenson, University of Wisconsin’s Director of Dairy Policy Analysis. Stephenson told farmers attending the Canadian Dairy XPO… Read More

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) announced Thursday it will spend $1.75 million on research to enhance the energy of forage crops and study the impact dairy products like cheese have on human cardio-vascular health. The investment is part of the Canadian government’s Dairy Research Cluster, which was launched in 2013. As part of the Growing… Read More

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has issued his marching orders for his new cabinet. As part of his commitment to “open and transparent” government, the ministerial mandate letters are being shared publicly for the first time. All 30 letters were posted on the Prime Minister’s Office website on Friday, including a letter to Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of… Read More

The Canadian Dairy XPO and Dairy Farmers of Canada are teaming up to encourage producers to embrace the Blue Cow symbol to show support for their industry. The Blue Cow Spirit Campaign will see gate admission to the CDX reduced to $15 and producers attending the show will be encouraged to wear Canadian Milk’s Blue… Read More

The Canadian dairy sector’s problem with too much skim milk supply could get worse if the Trans-Pacific Partnership becomes reality, according to analysis done by Al Mussell and his colleagues at Agri-Food Economic Systems. Milk, in simple terms, consists of butterfat and skim milk, with Canada’s dairy quota production system based on demand for butterfat. As… Read More

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, federal election, Blue Jays playoff baseball and more — here’s this week’s ag news podcast: Poll: What Would Your Ballot Look Like if You Voted Strictly on Ag Policy? Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | All Podcasts

The federal government has promised $4.3 billion to compensate the supply-managed dairy and poultry sectors for concessions made in the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal announced this week, but for chicken farmers, a coinciding decision by Ottawa to close import loopholes for chicken is seen as more important than the compensation. Mike Dungate, executive director of Chicken Farmers of Canada,… Read More