LITTLE CURRENT—The Manitoulin-West Sudbury Dairy Producers annual meeting was held at the Anchor Inn Hotel on Thursday, February 13, where dairy farmers were updated on the latest issues facing the industry by Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) board member Steve Runnalls, debated policy issues regarding the future of the milk quota system and honoured those in their ranks who received quality certificates.
This year, DFO Field and Transportation Representative Jean-Guy Seguin congratulated Oshadenah Holsteins of Tehkummah and Jonella Farms (Massey) Inc. on being the recipients of a gold certificate, while Emiry Farms Ltd, Borealis Dairy Farm Ltd and Morrell Dairy Farm Ltd each received general certificates.
Mr. Seguin noted that 60 percent of the producers in the North have received general certificates, a result that he said he was very pleased with and reflects the high standards the industry places on food safety and the delivery of a quality product.
The Manitoulin-West Sudbury Dairy Producers board remains the same this year, with chair John Mooney, vice-chair Alex Anstice and secretary-treasurer Dorothy Anstice all accepting acclamation to their roles.
Financial statements for the organization were presented by Ms. Anstice, noting that the Manitoulin-West Sudbury Dairy Producers had an operational budget of $10,410.02 in 2024 and anticipates $10,960 for 2025. Ms. Anstice noted that DFO had indicated significant increases in the honorarium for executive, but the executive opted for lesser amounts—with the chair stipend rising from $150 to $200 and the secretary-treasurer from $400 to $600.
Dairy educator Ina Greenwood gave a brief overview of the educational work being done in the community, with fairs being the favoured option. Ms. Greenwood noted that it has become progressively more difficult to get into the schools for programming, with a nine-page form being required by the Rainbow District School Board to be filled out by the teachers. This year the DFO is listed as having “preferred status,” so the form is a less onerous three pages but still a challenge.
Overall, the market is looking strong for dairy products, noted Mr. Runnalls during his DFO presentation, but that Generation Z still remains somewhat challenging. The DFO has found some success with a pop-up store approach to engage that cohort.
He noted that the dairy industry supports about 89,000 jobs and 10,000 farm families. “So that works out to about three farm families per farm now,” he said. “So even though the farm numbers are down, you know that each farm is still supporting three families.”
“There’s an increase in the national requirement of three percent and an increase in national quota of 2.6 percent,” said Mr. Runnalls. “And national production only increased 1.7 percent and the difference between the three percent and the 2.6 of quarter that was increased is due to the Imports that come in.”
“Fluid milk is fairly strong at 1.3 percent, but the per capita consumption of fluid milks is still going down, so that number increase comes from the increased population in the in Ontario, driving fluid consumption,” he noted. “The trend is still for more fat in the products.” This is in contrast to years in the past where fat content was on the decline. “People wanted two percent in skim milk. There’s less demand for skim milk.” Yogurt has seen a slight increase, as has ice cream, butter is fairly strong, at least ending the year strong, as numbers had been lower earlier in the year.
There has not been a significant increase in dairy imports recently, noted Mr. Runnalls, as world prices have outpaced those in Canada, making those markets more attractive to global producers. “Butter is actually more expensive in the US than here, as is cheddar cheese,” he pointed out. “Our market is not as attractive as it used to be.”
Mr. Runnalls reported that the federal government has contributed funds, as part of trade agreements, to increase processing plants and capacity at existing plants. “We are in discussions with the Ontario government looking for the province to match the federal contribution to try to help these plants come to life.”
There was also discussion on increasing the speed of reporting back to producers on the results of tests in sampling of milk—something there has been good progress on in southern Ontario but which remains a challenge in the North, largely due to geography and distances.
Discussion on the technical aspects of the milk quota system and whether the price of milk quota, the basis of the supply management system, should rise, be lowered or remain the same. Currently, that price is set at $24,000 a kilogram.
Some of the challenges facing the industry involve producers buying quota and then not filling that quota, but how to deal with that challenge is somewhat complicated. As one producer said, “do we want to be forcing someone to sell their quota?” There was more consensus to be found in the idea of not allowing someone who has not filled their quota for a defined time to purchase additional quota.
Rising the price of quota is seen as a barrier to young farmers getting into the industry.
Much of the discussion centred on how to get more quota available for expansion of the industry.
New requirements for barns were also discussed, with the grandfathering of tied barns being tied to the regulations on letting cows and calves have outdoor time, weather permitting.
Overall, this edition of the Manitoulin-West Sudbury Dairy Producers annual meeting ran much longer than usual, as a significant amount of feedback was garnered from the producers to inform DFO policy development.
