Will Canada's dairy industry be protected?

Dozens of dairy farmers from Ontario and Quebec led cows down the street in front of Parliament Hill Tuesday, to raise concerns about the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations. They’re worried that Canada’s supply management system will take a hit in the trade deal. Julaine Treur with Creekside Dairy in Agassiz says it’s a complicated deal involving multiple countries.

“New Zealand is pushing for access to the US dairy market to ship milk to them, but the US has said that they will only grant access to New Zealand if they can, in turn, get access to our dairy market.  In the US it’s easier to produce milk at a lower cost…they also have much larger farms than we do here in Canada.”

She says her farm has around 75 cows, while it’s not uncommon for an American farm to have 200+.  American dairy farmers are subsidized by their government, which explains why their product is cheaper, but they also allow bovine growth hormone in their cows. By comparison, Canadian dairy is more expensive but is higher quality and held to much higher standards.

Canadian dairy and poultry farmers are currently protected by the Supply Management system from outside producers, but that could all change with this deal.

We don’t know yet just how much of the Canadian market the US will be able to dip into….according to a report from the CBC the US is going for 10%, but Treur says if the Americans are allowed access to a double digit percentage of the Canadian market, it would shrink the supply management sector, causing smaller dairy farms to close, along with a loss of jobs.

“I think what you’ll see is that the farms who can do it will grow, because it’s easier to produce cheaper milk at a larger scale.  But the farmers who don’t have the land base or the funds to grow will be phased out.  So what you’ll see is larger and larger farms while the smaller family farms, like ours, that my husband and I run together, those are the ones you’ll see disappearing from our landscape.”

Abbotsford MP and International Trade Minister Ed Fast will be in Atlanta on Wednesday, looking to conclude negotiations on the TPP (which covers a lot more than just dairy).  Chilliwack MP Mark Strahl has responded to Treur’s letters, and told her they will protect supply management as much as they can.  No concessions have been granted yet…there was a rumour going around that Canada had offered 10% market access, but that report was denied.