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Ontario Ag Minister defends dairy policy
The Ontario Minister of Agriculture says Canada is not to blame for the recent oversupply of milk on the market. During a trade visit to Michigan, Jeff Leal told Brownfield, “Canada contributes nothing to the oversupply situation of dairy. Under our supply managed system, our export amount is minuscule.”
Leal says more U.S. dairy products are going to Canada than what they send to the states. “Canada is not the problem when it comes to oversupply, in fact, when you look at the numbers, there’s a net benefit of dairy exports from the United States into the Canadian Market.”
Canada’s supply management quotas and new Class 7 milk pricing system have been criticized by the U.S. Dairy Export Council, National Milk Producers, and Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue. They say the changes are blocking U.S. ultra-filtered milk exports and giving Canada the potential to flood the world market with cheaper surplus milk products.
American milk processors including Wisconsin-based Grassland Dairy Products let go of more than 70 producers May 1st saying lost Canadian markets triggered the cuts.
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