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Dairy commission fills board vacancy

Green tech CEO named to commissioner spot on CDC board

Concerns that the Canadian Dairy Commission could be caught short at its board table have been resolved with a new appointment to a vacant commissioner’s chair. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Sept. 27 announced Shikha Jain will be the CDC’s commissioner for a four-year term effective Sept. 15. Jain, who lives at Guelph, is […] Read more

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New CEO named for Canadian Dairy Commission

The Canadian Dairy Commission has hired from within for its new chief executive. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Wednesday announced Benoit Basillais, the CDC’s director of policy and economics, became the Crown corporation’s new CEO effective Monday. Basillais replaces Serge Riendeau, the dairy producer and former Agropur Co-operative president who’s been the CDC’s chief […] Read more

Aaron Fowler, Canada’s chief agriculture trade negotiator.

Canadian negotiator said CUSMA deal had to be done

The Canadian negotiators received pressure to end supply management until late in the negotiations

Canadian agriculture negotiators were dealing with proposals from the United States that would end supply management into September, 2018, not long before the deal was eventually completed at the end of September. That goes against the assurances of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue while visiting Canada last summer that the Americans didn’t want an end […] Read more

Closeup shot of a glass of milk on a dairy farm with cattle grazing in the background

OPINION: Why all the fuss about Canadian supply management? 

Two reports shed a different light on the debate over Canada's dairy supports

Canada’s dairy system has figured prominently in the rhetorical dust storm surrounding ongoing NAFTA renegotiations. The Canadian government has so far remained steadfastly opposed to any significant change. Two documents that surfaced this week help explain why. The first, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Regulatory Economic Impact Analysis of the Final Decision to Establish a […] Read more

(Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

International dairy prices, volumes fall at auction

Wellington | Reuters –– International dairy prices fell overnight at the fortnightly GlobalDairyTrade auction, despite market expectations that prices might rise. Fonterra’s GlobalDairyTrade Price Index dipped 2.9 per cent, with an average selling price of $2,190 per tonne, in the auction held on Tuesday (all figures US$). A total of 20,406 tonnes was sold at […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Arla Foods)

Arla CEO says world dairy market in crisis

Copenhagen | Reuters –– Arla Foods, one of Europe’s biggest dairy companies, said on Wednesday the global milk market was in crisis due to oversupply, but it expected demand, particularly from China, to pick up at the end of the year. Headquartered in Denmark, Arla is Britain’s largest and the world’s seventh-largest dairy company. It […] Read more


Discount retailers’ success in Britain has led established grocery firms to cut prices for certain basic produce. (Aldi.co.uk)

U.K. grocers Morrisons, Aldi give ground in milk dispute

London | Reuters — British supermarkets Morrisons and Aldi responded on Friday to pressure from financially strapped dairy farmers by raising the price they pay milk suppliers. U.K. farmers have warned they face financial ruin, with falls in the price of milk forcing many out of work and spurring others to blockade distribution centres and […] Read more



(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Global dairy demand seen picking up only slightly

Wellington | Reuters –– Global dairy prices are expected to pick up only slightly over the next 12 months, New Zealand dairy co-operative Fonterra, the world’s largest dairy exporter, said Thursday. Fonterra said the subdued outlook amid sluggish demand would likely slow the pace of New Zealand dairy output growth, and kept its forecast payout […] Read more