It was “quite a year” for Ontario dairy farmers, Dairy Farmers of Ontario chair Murray Sherk said Jan. 18 in his address to delegates at the organizations’ annual meeting in Toronto.
As the industry emerges from the pandemic, supply chains remain challenged and the war in Ukraine and global instability have caused higher fuel and fertilizer costs, he said.
Despite this, “we’re fortunate to have a very predictable system, even if there are a few challenges managing it.”
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Why it matters: Dairy production is the largest agricultural sector in Ontario, contributing almost $8 billion to the provincial gross domestic product and supporting 100,000 full-time jobs.
DFO ended 2022 with the biggest logistical challenge it has ever faced. Blizzard-like conditions hit the province Dec. 23-26, resulting in nearly 45 per cent of farms (1,416 out of the province’s 3,273) missing regular milk pickup, and they were asked to dump milk because trucks couldn’t reach them.
The DFO said it is compensating producers affected by the storm through a cost recovery plan that includes a 2.5 cents per litre reduction to milk blend prices in January.
Sherk and DFO Chief Executive Officer Cheryl Smith acknowledged the organization did not communicate with producers as well at it should have during the storm, and lessons have been learned.
“The board is committed to developing a workable plan for effective communication and action during times of emergencies,” said Sherk.
He said DFO has never had to deal with a storm that affected so many producers at once. The province has 80 processing plants that typically accept more than eight million litres of milk daily. Sherk said a fellow board member told him that “you don’t realize the enormity of the work our logistics staff do on a daily basis” but the storm, coupled with the Christmas holiday, presented a challenge unseen before.
Both Sherk and Smith thanked milk transporters and DFO’s logistics team, as well as producers, for weathering the storm. Smith acknowledged the poor communication and told delegates “the bottom line is all of you had anxiety around this because no one knew exactly what was happening.”
She said DFO has a taskforce “looking at what we can do in the future for emergencies” and that a full investigation is underway, including policy review.
Growing the market
In her address, Smith said DFO remains focused on its strategic plan and priorities.
“It’s all about having a dynamic, profitable and growing dairy industry.”
It set an ambitious target to grow allocation to the P5 by 2.5 per cent annually.
Smith said the organization didn’t meet this target in 2022. It grew allocation by 0.74 per cent, although it has grown overall by three and a half per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
“So that’s positive, but we know we have work to do for that growth to continue.”
As inflation rises, Smith said DFO is managing costs to the “best of our abilities and being as efficient as possible.”
Dairy is sensitive to price when costs rise, she said, and these costs must be recovered through higher prices.
She noted the dairy industry has a significant role in the consumer market. Ontario has 40 per cent of the Canadian population, equal to 15 million consumers.
That’s why the organization has worked to strengthen industry perceptions, and the DFO marketing team has worked to emphasize the relevance of milk and dairy, she said.
“We’re very, very focused on Gen Z, but also growing consumption across all age groups.”
Board elections
Sherk, board member for Region 8, was re-elected DFO chair during a separate meeting.
Mark Hamel, board member for Region 11 was elected vice-chair, replacing Nick Thurler (Region 2) who resigned in December; and Adam Petherick, board member for Region 4, was re-elected as second vice-chair.
Elected regionally were John Wynands, board member for Region 3; Albert Fledderus, board member for Region 7 and Hamel, board member for Region 11. They will begin a four-year term on DFO’s board of directors.
Award winners
New this year was the DFO Recognition Dinner held Jan. 18 after the annual meeting. The DFO board recognized five Ontario dairy producers with an award for best quality scores, and the first-ever DFO Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Glen McNeil of Heather Holme Holsteins in Goderich.
Sherk said McNeil’s contributions to the dairy industry as a producer, mentor and advocate “have been immense. He is kind and generous in giving back to dairy producers and his community, and the sector has benefitted from his commitment to quality, advocacy and goodwill.”
The following Quality Award Winners received Gold Quality Certificates in January 2022 for milk shipped in 2021:
- Citilimits Farms Inc., Jordan Dietrich and Nicole Dietrich
- Zethill Farms Ltd., Russell Zettler
- Ontowa Farms Inc., Martin Family, Ralph Martin and Judy Martin
- Elliottdale Holsteins Ltd., Andrew Elliott and Nicole Elliott
- Slits Dairy Farms Ltd., Pedro Slits and Jolanda Slits
Juanita Echeverry-Munera, PhD candidate in the Trouw Nutrition Ruminant Research Centre at the University of Guelph, received the 2023 DFO Doctoral Scholarship of $100,000 to explore methods to raise dairy-beef calves to improve productivity, sustainability and economic return on Canadian farms.
