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
Tag Archives dairy prices

Dairy commission fills board vacancy
Green tech CEO named to commissioner spot on CDC board

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

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

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

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

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

EU dairy farmers get rude awakening in post-quota market
Paris | Reuters — European dairy farmers caught out by a global market decline as they emerge from a 30-year-old quota system may have little choice but to produce at full pelt, hoping for a recovery in international prices next year. Milk prices paid to EU farmers are down 20 per cent from last year […] Read more

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

Fonterra cuts dairy jobs as ‘white gold’ rush fizzles
Wellington | Reuters — New Zealand dairy exporter Fonterra is cutting jobs in an effort to shore up its cash flows as a slump in global dairy demand, particularly from No. 1 buyer China, threatens to snuff out the country’s “white gold” rush. Dairy prices have more than halved from record highs scaled in 2013, […] Read more

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