by SUSAN MANN
Ontario’s dairy farmers marketed nearly 2. 5 billion litres of milk during the fiscal year that ended Oct. 31, 2010. That’s up slightly over last year’s marketing of 2.488 billion litres, indicate figures from the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s 2010 annual report released this week at the organization’s annual meeting in Toronto.
In 2009/10, Dairy Farmers billed processors $1.88 billion for the milk. The organization retained $65.2 million for milk transportation, $13.1 million to administer the marketing system, $32.4 million for market expansion, $1 million for research and about $400,000 to operate the Canadian Quality Milk program. The $1.77 billion balance was paid to the 4,174 licensed dairy farms that support about 9,700 families. The organization also collected $1.5 million for CanWest DHI to support milk recording programs.
The number of licensed dairy farms declined by 44 this past fiscal year from the previous fiscal year’s total number of 4,218. But there was an increase in new entrants. During the 2009/10 fiscal year, 26 new producers acquired quota on the exchange compared to 10 during the previous fiscal year, it says in the report. Eight of the 26 started in the industry through the new entrant quota assistance program.
During the current fiscal year, farmers’ licence fees were increased by four cents a hectolitre going to 58 cents a hectolitre from 54 cents per hl. The other deductions, Canadian Quality Milk, research, market expansion and CanWest DHI stayed the same while transportation costs are charged at actual rates. Transportation charges during the 2009/10 fiscal year ranged from a high of $2.60 per hl of milk shipped in May, 2010 to a low of $2.40 per hl in November and December of 2009. The numbers were in the 2011 budget discussed at Thursday’s session of the meeting and in the annual report.
The board approved the budget, which calls for revenues of $16.27 million, expenses of $16.22 million and a $43,677 surplus, in October. BF
Comments
But by how much more would milk production increase, and how many more than 9700 dairy farm families would there need to be to meet that demand, if Ontario consumers weren't paying 38% more for milk than US consumers?
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
You're not looking at the big picture, although Ontario consumers do pay more in the store than US consumers, the American government heavily subsidizes the dairy industry and you end up paying the increased price anyway just in a different way. Because where do you think the government subsidies come from....your pocket. If you go to the Dairy Farmers of Ontario website you can find out more there. They have an article related to this topic.
If society considers it desirable to increase the incomes of any group of individuals or the members of any industry, taxpayer subsidies funded by the richest group of taxpayers, including corporations, is a far-better, and far-fairer, system than disproportionately forcing the funding of this transfer of wealth onto the backs of the poorest group of consumers.
Besides all that, taxpayer subsidies completely eliminate the double-edged sword of what to do with obscenely-high quota values, and the claim that import tariffs on dairy and poultry products impair our ability to get better trade deals for the export-oriented sectors of our economy.
I am, therefore, looking at the bigger picture - DFO, and the dairy industry, are not.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Production might increase, or it might migrate elsewhere, it almost certainly would be concentrated in fewer much larger operations. Maybe that would be preferable to consumers, but mega dairies wouldn't be practical in many places smaller dairies exist today.
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