Government and dairy officials to meet soon to work out solution on milk protein imports

Thursday, May 5, 2016

by SUSAN MANN

Dairy Farmers of Canada officials are eagerly waiting for a call from the federal government so discussions to find a solution to concentrated milk protein imports eating away dairy farmers’ incomes can begin.

Canadian dairy farmers are losing $220 million a year due to imports of the concentrated protein from the United States, called diafiltered milk. Processors use it in cheese production.

To fix the problem, dairy farmer organizations are urging the federal government to enforce Canada’s national cheese compositional standards, which have been in place since 2008.

The cheese standards stipulate the minimum percentage for the protein used in cheese making that must be sourced from milk. In an earlier interview, Dairy Farmers president Wally Smith said the minimum percentage is different for each cheese. For cheddar, its 83 per cent, and for standard pizza mozzarella, it’s about 60 per cent.

Those cheeses are of main concern because they use the most volume of milk or ingredient, he explained.

In the House of Commons Tuesday in Ottawa, the Liberals defeated a New Democratic Party (NDP) motion, proposed by agriculture critic Ruth Ellen Brosseau (Berthier-Maskinongé), calling on the government to enforce the cheese standards. The vote was 142 in favour and 171 opposed.

Brosseau said she was disappointed Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay voted against her motion.

“All he had to offer was a promise to meet with our producers in the coming weeks,” she said. “Producers don’t need another meeting — they need action.”

In an emailed statement from his communications director, MacAulay said the Liberals proposed an amendment to Brosseau’s motion, which she declined.

“We are working closely with the whole Canadian dairy sector to achieve long-term, sustainable solutions to the challenges they face,” he added.

Brosseau said the Liberals had complained they didn’t like the first line of her motion, which talked about how trade agreements hurt supply management. She said she would work with the Liberals, but the amendments they proposed removed the portion of the motion that called on the government to act.

“That defeated the purpose of the motion, which was to get the government to act swiftly on diafiltered milk,” she said.

Dairy Farmers wasn’t so quick to dismiss the government’s offer to meet and talk about the milk protein imports.

Isabelle Bouchard, Dairy Farmers communications and government relations director, said the federal government announced Tuesday it will meet with dairy leaders within the next 30 days and “come up with a long-term solution” to the diafiltered milk situation.

The call from the federal government hasn’t come yet. “We’re waiting by the phone,” she said.

The federal government’s Tuesday’s statement was its second announcement on dairy within two days. On Monday, the government said it would meet with dairy industry leaders within the next 30 days, to discuss compensation due to the increased access the government is giving Europe under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Even though Dairy Farmers of Canada is disappointed the NDP motion was defeated, it credits the New Democrats with shining a spotlight on the diafiltered milk situation in the House of Commons.

The NDP motion led to the government saying it would meet with Dairy Farmers officials “and find a solution,” Bouchard said. “Our main priority is action.”

As for the protest by dairy farmers in Montreal, who blocked the entrance to milk processor Parmalat Canada Tuesday, Bouchard said Dairy Farmers had nothing to do with organizing it.
 
“We saw it on the news, just like everybody else,” she said, noting the protest is a sign that frustration among dairy farmers at the lack of government action is boiling over.

Bouchard said Dairy Farmers has been talking to the federal government about diafiltered milk imports and CETA compensation since it was elected in the fall of 2015. “We’re hoping that in this new set of discussions, it will be them talking to us, instead of us talking to them.”

Meanwhile Brosseau said the NDP is not going to stop fighting “and being a voice for our farmers.” BF