Sunday, June 10, 2018 12:24:16 AM
Why Canadian milk infuriates Donald Trump
"Trump Goes To War With Top Allies Before G7 Meeting"
John Barber
Trump’s latest trade war target is Canada’s protected dairy industry. But Canadians have no intention of abandoning it – because it works
Sat 9 Jun 2018 07.00 EDT
Last modified on Sat 9 Jun 2018 07.02 EDT
Dairy cows nuzzle a barn cat as they wait to be milked at a farm in Granby, Quebec.
‘The system works so incredibly well,’ said one expert.
Photograph: Christinne Muschi/Reuters
In the midst of what appears to be a full-blown trade war between Canada .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/canada .. and the US over steel and aluminum, and with Donald Trump taking his first steps on Canadian soil for the G7 summit, a familiar bugbear reappeared to haunt the negotiations.
-
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Canada charges the U.S. a 270% tariff on Dairy Products! They
didn’t tell you that, did they? Not fair to our farmers!
8:16 PM - Jun 8, 2018
.. link inside ..
-
Whatever understanding Canada and the US may (or may not) have come to on their high-value trade in lumber or auto parts, they remain implacably opposed on the comparatively minor matter of milk.
Trump has attacked Canada’s protected dairy industry before, calling it a “disgrace” and blaming it for widespread hardship among US farmers. Although the entire trade in dairy products between the two countries is worth less than US$600m, ideological division has sharpened the ongoing dispute. His negotiators have demanded the dismantlement of Canada’s openly dirigiste system of supply management in agriculture – a complicated nexus of production quotas and import tariffs designed to ensure Canadian dairy, egg and poultry farmers receive fair prices for their products.
--
"In what free-trading Americans like to call Soviet Canuckistan,
the dairy industry is thriving like never before
--
But the Canadians are no less determined to retain one of the last vestiges of their otherwise-abandoned collectivist traditions. Canadian cows are sacred, and the farmers who care for them enjoy outsized influence in national politics. Expert observers have said that Justin Trudeau’s government would abandon the treaty altogether before sacrificing supply management.
“It’s just too sensitive for the Canadians,” Kevin Carmichael, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, recently told CNBC news.
Even so, the Trudeau government recently alarmed Canadian farmers by signalling a willingness to give on the issue in the face of insistent US demands. The dispute has acquired new urgency as the US dairy industry continues to suffer from a deep crisis of persistent overproduction, with farmers sinking into insolvency as farm-gate milk prices stick stubbornly below the cost of production. Last year, US farmers dumped almost 100m gallons of surplus milk. Recently, a surge in dairy-farmer suicides has caused national alarm, drawing attention to what the New York Times called “the widespread hopelessness afflicting the industry”.
Representing a state suffering especially hard from farm failures and suicides, the US Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, recently echoed his Republican president in blaming Canada for the debacle. “Canada, when it comes to dairy, acts like China when it comes to trade,” Schumer told hard-pressed farmers in upstate New York. “They’re unfair. They put up barriers. They treat us bad.”
--
Canadians and Americans are family. Donald Trump is testing even that
Bruce Heyman
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/jun/01/america-canada-trade-war-trump
--
Meanwhile, just across the St Lawrence river in what free-trading Americans like to call Soviet Canuckistan, the dairy industry is thriving like never before – and like none other in the developed world. Family farms milking an average of 80 cows each have prospered under a heavily regulated system that supports prices at sustainable levels by restricting domestic overproduction and keeping imports at bay. In 2016, Canadian farmers received an average price of C$0.79 a litre for milk, compared with C$0.49 on average for US farmers.
The result is that dairying remains a key economic support of traditional rural life throughout central Canada. As critics of the system like to point out, hoping to inspire resentment among consumers annoyed by the price of milk, Canadian dairy farmers enjoy incomes 60% above average in the country. But to supporters, the uniquely prosperous, protected Canadian dairy industry stands as a model alternative to the increasingly disruptive and unpopular dynamic of unrestricted free trade in all things.
Supply management enjoys strong government support in no small part because the policy obviates the need to subsidize farmers directly in the manner of the US and the EU – the two greatest culprits behind the current world dairy glut.
“The system works so incredibly well,” said Bruce Muirhead, associate vice-president and professor of history at the University of Waterloo. “And the big thing about supply management is that it doesn’t cost the government a cent. Consumers pay the full cost of production.”
Domestic critics have called supply management a grotesque distortion of free-market principles, complaining that the comparatively high price of Canadian milk sacrifices the interests of consumers in favour of producers and victimizes the poor. But no consumer or social policy group has taken up the cause, and all six parties currently represented in the House of Commons unanimously support supply management.
As do Canadian consumers: an Ipsos poll this year by the Dairy Farmers of Canada reported that 75% of Canadians support even greater government efforts to defend the industry in the face of current US demands.
As the trade minister, Chrystia Freeland, has pointed out, trade data flatly contradicts the claim that Canadian supply management is ravaging US dairyland – either because it unfairly restricts imports or because it dumps a subsidized surplus in US markets. In 2016, Canada imported dairy products from the US worth five times more than the small amount it exported there. “I would call that a pretty good deal,” she told the House of Commons.
Canadian farmers point out that despite the tariffs that protect them, imports make up 10% of the country’s dairy consumption. By contrast, the US restricts dairy imports to 3% of domestic consumption. “That just screams hypocrisy to me,” Muirhead said. “I don’t understand how they can get away with these positions.”
As a recent visitor to Wisconsin, “America’s Dairyland”, where low prices are forcing the closure of hundreds of dairy farms a year, Muirhead said he encountered no resentment against Canada among local farmers. “The president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union told me that what they really wanted was a supply-managed system like ours,” he said.
Dairy deregulation has spread hardship wherever it has been implemented, Muirhead added. “Every single objective indicator says that in the case of dairy you cannot have a system that operates without production controls,” he said. “If you try, you’re basically consigning your farmers to a life of penury – or worse.”
Canada successfully defended the system in its first free trade agreement with the US, and several subsequent ones. But with the full wrath of Trump now focused squarely on the country’s protected farmers, this stubborn remnant of Canadian exceptionalism has never been more fragile.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/jun/09/milk-canada-us-trade-war
Get smart Trump. Go with Canada, and your dairy people, on this one.
Would controlled milk production work in the U.S.?
Gloria Hafemeister, Correspondent Published 11:22 p.m. CT March 18, 2018
(Photo: Gloria Hafemeister)
FOND DU LAC – As the number of dairy farms in Wisconsin continues to drop and milk prices continue at a level below or close to the cost of production, some dairy organizations in the state are beginning to say “Enough is enough!”
Prompted by the flood of milk on the market that led to some dairies dropping their producers, members of the Wisconsin Farmers Union have been looking to Canada for ideas on how to stabilize milk prices.
Last week Farmers Union hosted a series of meetings around the state featuring two dairy farmers from Canada who explained their supply management system that has helped to stabilize milk prices since the early 1960’s.
According to Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden, all of the meetings were well attended by Farmers Union members as well as by members of other dairy organizations including National Farmers Organization, Organic Valley and Dairy Business Association.
The idea for the meetings was set in motion following a survey in which Farmers Union polled its dairy farmer members and found that the majority of the 1000 farmers responding indicated they were receiving a pay price that was below the cost of production. Farmers also indicated they were interested in finding long-term solutions that would allow the next generation to join the business.
Von Ruden said, “It is especially compelling to see what the Canadians have accomplished considering we have a complete failure of dairy policy in this country. The biggest part of that failure is that we have no ability to control the supply of milk and match it to market needs.”
Canadian perspective
Ralph Deitrich, chair of the Dairy Farmers of Ontario and Canadian dairy producer Murray Sherk were on hand at the Wisconsin meetings to explain the supply management system that has helped to stabilize their milk prices.
Both farmers said the system was developed as a means for Canadian dairy farm families to allow the next generation to carry on the business.
Deitrich said, “Since the program began in the 1960’s Canadian milk prices have been relatively steady and the number of farms has also remained steady.”
In all there are 11,000 dairy farms in Canada with the majority of those farms in Ontario and Quebec. Many farms in Canada have 30 or 40 cows and the largest has 1400 cows.
There are two organized pools of milk in Canada and all milk that is produced goes into a pool resulting in the same pay for every dairy farmer.
“In Canada, a processor would never send letters cutting off production from individual farms because the processors are not negotiating individually with producers but rather buying from the pool,” he explained.
He said the program began over concerns that farms located near cities had a distinct advantage because of the availability of nearby markets. As a result, farms located further from cities were struggling to survive.
Deitrich said if U.S. farmers are interested in developing a similar program they will need to begin with some strong leaders who are then backed by producers.
While surveys have indicated Wisconsin producers would prefer to establish a system that does not require financial assistance from government, Dietrich says for a supply management program to work the government must be involved.
Obtaining the support of the government is critical, he said, adding that it is important to show elected officials how the dairy industry benefits the community, supports other industries, and drives the over-all economy.
“Everyone in your community – electricians, plumbers, equipment dealers and others is impacted when farmers do not succeed,” he points out.
The Canadian program is financed by a check-off system that includes transportation, research, promotion, and Dairy Herd improvement testing. The check-off rate is based on production and is the same for every producer.
Some of the Wisconsin producers were concerned over the high cost of buying quotas that might discourage new producers from entering the dairy business.
Sherk explained, “We have a program for new producers that allows free quota for the first ten years for half of the farm. There is a waiting list to get into it.”
He said the majority of the transfer of quota, however, is between family members as the farm is passed on from one generation to the next. Only farmers can buy quotas, not investors.
Exports
A concern expressed by representatives of the Dairy Business Association was whether the Canadian system would limit the ability to export milk to other countries.
Sherk said Canadian farmers are not interested in the export market but rather are working to increase milk and dairy sales within their own country.
“Exports provide the lowest return so we’re not interested in that,” he said. “Yes, demand will grow as the world population grows but it will be in places like Africa and Asia and what will they be able to afford to pay?”
Deitrich adds, “If we are going to be a wildly exporting country we would be shooting ourselves in the foot. We believe it is better to develop more dairy products and create more markets for our milk.”
Financing
The two Canadian speakers also advised, “Whatever route you take be sure you get the bankers involved. In Canada, bankers are more willing to loan money for modernization because of the stable prices.”
Don Hamm, president of the Wisconsin National Farmers Organization, points out that some of the problems with over-production in this country have been the result of the guaranteed loan programs. He notes that while the programs were intended to help farmers get affordable loans, all they have done is encourage bankers to loan more money for dairy expansions.
Both the NFO and Farmers Union have been concerned over expanded production that results in the inability of farmers to negotiate a fair price for their milk.
Von Ruden points out that outside investment has led to expansion of many farms and the start-up of several new CAFOs which has in turn flooded the market. On top of that, commercial giants like Walmart are investing in their own infrastructure to process dairy products.
He acknowledges that many factors have contributed to the glut of milk on the market that has led to the low milk prices in recent years. Cattle genetics and improved feed rations, the advent of sexed semen and improved management practices have resulted in almost double the production per cow over the last three decades.
Von Ruden says that all of these changes have led to farmers receiving an even smaller portion of the profit in milk. He cited figures compiled by the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Profitability showing that dairy farmers received as little as 3 cents of profit for every gallon of milk sold after taking into account their cost of production.
Farmers Union plans to continue the its efforts in encouraging dairy producers to join together in finding solutions to the instability of the industry.
Von Ruden says nothing will improve until farmers start talking among themselves, to their processors and to their organizations. He concludes, “It’s time to dairy together.”
Top Headlines from Wisconsin Farmer:
Neighbors make a stink about manure spreading violations at Tag Lane Dairy
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2018/06/04/neighbors-make-stink-manure-spreading-tag-lane-dairy/661198002/
America's Dairyland is hurting and Wisconsin seeks solutions
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2018/06/05/americas-dairyland-hurting-and-wisconsin-seeks-solutions/673878002/
Auction calendar: June 8, 2018
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/money/2018/06/06/auction-calendar-june-8-2018/677439002/
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/state/2018/03/18/would-controlled-milk-production-work-u-s/437052002/
See also:
The truth behind Trump’s “trade war” with Canada
"For Americans, Trump’s tariffs on imports could be costly"
Trump didn't start the fight over Canadian softwood lumber
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=130839346
The rest below are from stashed March 15, 2018: in F6 post headed,
Enough! A Million Students Walk Out of Schools to Demand Action on Guns in Historic Day of Action
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=139944492
Caught lying about trade with Canada, Trump tweets some new lies about trade with Canada
Nobody knows why this is happening.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/15/17123880/trump-canada-trade-surplus
Trump repeats Canada trade claim after admitting he bluffed in meeting with Trudeau
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/15/trump-canada-trade-deficit-465464
Trump Openly Brags About Lying to Justin Trudeau’s Face
It was just one of many totally bizarre moments from a speech the president gave in Missouri.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/trump-openly-brags-about-lying-to-justin-trudeaus-face
Popular Nafta Arbitrage Trade Sours as Trump Aims Fury North
Buy loonie, sell Mexican peso wager has gone from stud to dud
U.S. rhetoric increasingly targets Canada amid negotiations
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-15/popular-nafta-arbitrage-trade-sours-as-trump-directs-fury-north
Trump doubles down on lie he told Canada’s Trudeau in jumbled new tweet
The president has completely invented a trade deficit with Canada.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/03/trump-doubles-lie-told-canadas-trudeau-jumbled-new-tweet/
also at https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/donald-trump-doubles-down-his-bizarre-lie-justin-trudeau
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dor3eKbIEBDnKqMN86BF8UJ_eyOPM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
"Trump Goes To War With Top Allies Before G7 Meeting"
John Barber
Trump’s latest trade war target is Canada’s protected dairy industry. But Canadians have no intention of abandoning it – because it works
Sat 9 Jun 2018 07.00 EDT
Last modified on Sat 9 Jun 2018 07.02 EDT
Dairy cows nuzzle a barn cat as they wait to be milked at a farm in Granby, Quebec.
‘The system works so incredibly well,’ said one expert.
Photograph: Christinne Muschi/Reuters
In the midst of what appears to be a full-blown trade war between Canada .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/canada .. and the US over steel and aluminum, and with Donald Trump taking his first steps on Canadian soil for the G7 summit, a familiar bugbear reappeared to haunt the negotiations.
-
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Canada charges the U.S. a 270% tariff on Dairy Products! They
didn’t tell you that, did they? Not fair to our farmers!
8:16 PM - Jun 8, 2018
.. link inside ..
-
Whatever understanding Canada and the US may (or may not) have come to on their high-value trade in lumber or auto parts, they remain implacably opposed on the comparatively minor matter of milk.
Trump has attacked Canada’s protected dairy industry before, calling it a “disgrace” and blaming it for widespread hardship among US farmers. Although the entire trade in dairy products between the two countries is worth less than US$600m, ideological division has sharpened the ongoing dispute. His negotiators have demanded the dismantlement of Canada’s openly dirigiste system of supply management in agriculture – a complicated nexus of production quotas and import tariffs designed to ensure Canadian dairy, egg and poultry farmers receive fair prices for their products.
--
"In what free-trading Americans like to call Soviet Canuckistan,
the dairy industry is thriving like never before
--
But the Canadians are no less determined to retain one of the last vestiges of their otherwise-abandoned collectivist traditions. Canadian cows are sacred, and the farmers who care for them enjoy outsized influence in national politics. Expert observers have said that Justin Trudeau’s government would abandon the treaty altogether before sacrificing supply management.
“It’s just too sensitive for the Canadians,” Kevin Carmichael, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, recently told CNBC news.
Even so, the Trudeau government recently alarmed Canadian farmers by signalling a willingness to give on the issue in the face of insistent US demands. The dispute has acquired new urgency as the US dairy industry continues to suffer from a deep crisis of persistent overproduction, with farmers sinking into insolvency as farm-gate milk prices stick stubbornly below the cost of production. Last year, US farmers dumped almost 100m gallons of surplus milk. Recently, a surge in dairy-farmer suicides has caused national alarm, drawing attention to what the New York Times called “the widespread hopelessness afflicting the industry”.
Representing a state suffering especially hard from farm failures and suicides, the US Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, recently echoed his Republican president in blaming Canada for the debacle. “Canada, when it comes to dairy, acts like China when it comes to trade,” Schumer told hard-pressed farmers in upstate New York. “They’re unfair. They put up barriers. They treat us bad.”
--
Canadians and Americans are family. Donald Trump is testing even that
Bruce Heyman
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/jun/01/america-canada-trade-war-trump
--
Meanwhile, just across the St Lawrence river in what free-trading Americans like to call Soviet Canuckistan, the dairy industry is thriving like never before – and like none other in the developed world. Family farms milking an average of 80 cows each have prospered under a heavily regulated system that supports prices at sustainable levels by restricting domestic overproduction and keeping imports at bay. In 2016, Canadian farmers received an average price of C$0.79 a litre for milk, compared with C$0.49 on average for US farmers.
The result is that dairying remains a key economic support of traditional rural life throughout central Canada. As critics of the system like to point out, hoping to inspire resentment among consumers annoyed by the price of milk, Canadian dairy farmers enjoy incomes 60% above average in the country. But to supporters, the uniquely prosperous, protected Canadian dairy industry stands as a model alternative to the increasingly disruptive and unpopular dynamic of unrestricted free trade in all things.
Supply management enjoys strong government support in no small part because the policy obviates the need to subsidize farmers directly in the manner of the US and the EU – the two greatest culprits behind the current world dairy glut.
“The system works so incredibly well,” said Bruce Muirhead, associate vice-president and professor of history at the University of Waterloo. “And the big thing about supply management is that it doesn’t cost the government a cent. Consumers pay the full cost of production.”
Domestic critics have called supply management a grotesque distortion of free-market principles, complaining that the comparatively high price of Canadian milk sacrifices the interests of consumers in favour of producers and victimizes the poor. But no consumer or social policy group has taken up the cause, and all six parties currently represented in the House of Commons unanimously support supply management.
As do Canadian consumers: an Ipsos poll this year by the Dairy Farmers of Canada reported that 75% of Canadians support even greater government efforts to defend the industry in the face of current US demands.
As the trade minister, Chrystia Freeland, has pointed out, trade data flatly contradicts the claim that Canadian supply management is ravaging US dairyland – either because it unfairly restricts imports or because it dumps a subsidized surplus in US markets. In 2016, Canada imported dairy products from the US worth five times more than the small amount it exported there. “I would call that a pretty good deal,” she told the House of Commons.
Canadian farmers point out that despite the tariffs that protect them, imports make up 10% of the country’s dairy consumption. By contrast, the US restricts dairy imports to 3% of domestic consumption. “That just screams hypocrisy to me,” Muirhead said. “I don’t understand how they can get away with these positions.”
As a recent visitor to Wisconsin, “America’s Dairyland”, where low prices are forcing the closure of hundreds of dairy farms a year, Muirhead said he encountered no resentment against Canada among local farmers. “The president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union told me that what they really wanted was a supply-managed system like ours,” he said.
Dairy deregulation has spread hardship wherever it has been implemented, Muirhead added. “Every single objective indicator says that in the case of dairy you cannot have a system that operates without production controls,” he said. “If you try, you’re basically consigning your farmers to a life of penury – or worse.”
Canada successfully defended the system in its first free trade agreement with the US, and several subsequent ones. But with the full wrath of Trump now focused squarely on the country’s protected farmers, this stubborn remnant of Canadian exceptionalism has never been more fragile.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/jun/09/milk-canada-us-trade-war
Get smart Trump. Go with Canada, and your dairy people, on this one.
Would controlled milk production work in the U.S.?
Gloria Hafemeister, Correspondent Published 11:22 p.m. CT March 18, 2018
(Photo: Gloria Hafemeister)
FOND DU LAC – As the number of dairy farms in Wisconsin continues to drop and milk prices continue at a level below or close to the cost of production, some dairy organizations in the state are beginning to say “Enough is enough!”
Prompted by the flood of milk on the market that led to some dairies dropping their producers, members of the Wisconsin Farmers Union have been looking to Canada for ideas on how to stabilize milk prices.
Last week Farmers Union hosted a series of meetings around the state featuring two dairy farmers from Canada who explained their supply management system that has helped to stabilize milk prices since the early 1960’s.
According to Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden, all of the meetings were well attended by Farmers Union members as well as by members of other dairy organizations including National Farmers Organization, Organic Valley and Dairy Business Association.
The idea for the meetings was set in motion following a survey in which Farmers Union polled its dairy farmer members and found that the majority of the 1000 farmers responding indicated they were receiving a pay price that was below the cost of production. Farmers also indicated they were interested in finding long-term solutions that would allow the next generation to join the business.
Von Ruden said, “It is especially compelling to see what the Canadians have accomplished considering we have a complete failure of dairy policy in this country. The biggest part of that failure is that we have no ability to control the supply of milk and match it to market needs.”
Canadian perspective
Ralph Deitrich, chair of the Dairy Farmers of Ontario and Canadian dairy producer Murray Sherk were on hand at the Wisconsin meetings to explain the supply management system that has helped to stabilize their milk prices.
Both farmers said the system was developed as a means for Canadian dairy farm families to allow the next generation to carry on the business.
Deitrich said, “Since the program began in the 1960’s Canadian milk prices have been relatively steady and the number of farms has also remained steady.”
In all there are 11,000 dairy farms in Canada with the majority of those farms in Ontario and Quebec. Many farms in Canada have 30 or 40 cows and the largest has 1400 cows.
There are two organized pools of milk in Canada and all milk that is produced goes into a pool resulting in the same pay for every dairy farmer.
“In Canada, a processor would never send letters cutting off production from individual farms because the processors are not negotiating individually with producers but rather buying from the pool,” he explained.
He said the program began over concerns that farms located near cities had a distinct advantage because of the availability of nearby markets. As a result, farms located further from cities were struggling to survive.
Deitrich said if U.S. farmers are interested in developing a similar program they will need to begin with some strong leaders who are then backed by producers.
While surveys have indicated Wisconsin producers would prefer to establish a system that does not require financial assistance from government, Dietrich says for a supply management program to work the government must be involved.
Obtaining the support of the government is critical, he said, adding that it is important to show elected officials how the dairy industry benefits the community, supports other industries, and drives the over-all economy.
“Everyone in your community – electricians, plumbers, equipment dealers and others is impacted when farmers do not succeed,” he points out.
The Canadian program is financed by a check-off system that includes transportation, research, promotion, and Dairy Herd improvement testing. The check-off rate is based on production and is the same for every producer.
Some of the Wisconsin producers were concerned over the high cost of buying quotas that might discourage new producers from entering the dairy business.
Sherk explained, “We have a program for new producers that allows free quota for the first ten years for half of the farm. There is a waiting list to get into it.”
He said the majority of the transfer of quota, however, is between family members as the farm is passed on from one generation to the next. Only farmers can buy quotas, not investors.
Exports
A concern expressed by representatives of the Dairy Business Association was whether the Canadian system would limit the ability to export milk to other countries.
Sherk said Canadian farmers are not interested in the export market but rather are working to increase milk and dairy sales within their own country.
“Exports provide the lowest return so we’re not interested in that,” he said. “Yes, demand will grow as the world population grows but it will be in places like Africa and Asia and what will they be able to afford to pay?”
Deitrich adds, “If we are going to be a wildly exporting country we would be shooting ourselves in the foot. We believe it is better to develop more dairy products and create more markets for our milk.”
Financing
The two Canadian speakers also advised, “Whatever route you take be sure you get the bankers involved. In Canada, bankers are more willing to loan money for modernization because of the stable prices.”
Don Hamm, president of the Wisconsin National Farmers Organization, points out that some of the problems with over-production in this country have been the result of the guaranteed loan programs. He notes that while the programs were intended to help farmers get affordable loans, all they have done is encourage bankers to loan more money for dairy expansions.
Both the NFO and Farmers Union have been concerned over expanded production that results in the inability of farmers to negotiate a fair price for their milk.
Von Ruden points out that outside investment has led to expansion of many farms and the start-up of several new CAFOs which has in turn flooded the market. On top of that, commercial giants like Walmart are investing in their own infrastructure to process dairy products.
He acknowledges that many factors have contributed to the glut of milk on the market that has led to the low milk prices in recent years. Cattle genetics and improved feed rations, the advent of sexed semen and improved management practices have resulted in almost double the production per cow over the last three decades.
Von Ruden says that all of these changes have led to farmers receiving an even smaller portion of the profit in milk. He cited figures compiled by the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Profitability showing that dairy farmers received as little as 3 cents of profit for every gallon of milk sold after taking into account their cost of production.
Farmers Union plans to continue the its efforts in encouraging dairy producers to join together in finding solutions to the instability of the industry.
Von Ruden says nothing will improve until farmers start talking among themselves, to their processors and to their organizations. He concludes, “It’s time to dairy together.”
Top Headlines from Wisconsin Farmer:
Neighbors make a stink about manure spreading violations at Tag Lane Dairy
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2018/06/04/neighbors-make-stink-manure-spreading-tag-lane-dairy/661198002/
America's Dairyland is hurting and Wisconsin seeks solutions
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2018/06/05/americas-dairyland-hurting-and-wisconsin-seeks-solutions/673878002/
Auction calendar: June 8, 2018
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/money/2018/06/06/auction-calendar-june-8-2018/677439002/
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/state/2018/03/18/would-controlled-milk-production-work-u-s/437052002/
See also:
The truth behind Trump’s “trade war” with Canada
"For Americans, Trump’s tariffs on imports could be costly"
Trump didn't start the fight over Canadian softwood lumber
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=130839346
The rest below are from stashed March 15, 2018: in F6 post headed,
Enough! A Million Students Walk Out of Schools to Demand Action on Guns in Historic Day of Action
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=139944492
Caught lying about trade with Canada, Trump tweets some new lies about trade with Canada
Nobody knows why this is happening.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/15/17123880/trump-canada-trade-surplus
Trump repeats Canada trade claim after admitting he bluffed in meeting with Trudeau
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/15/trump-canada-trade-deficit-465464
Trump Openly Brags About Lying to Justin Trudeau’s Face
It was just one of many totally bizarre moments from a speech the president gave in Missouri.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/trump-openly-brags-about-lying-to-justin-trudeaus-face
Popular Nafta Arbitrage Trade Sours as Trump Aims Fury North
Buy loonie, sell Mexican peso wager has gone from stud to dud
U.S. rhetoric increasingly targets Canada amid negotiations
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-15/popular-nafta-arbitrage-trade-sours-as-trump-directs-fury-north
Trump doubles down on lie he told Canada’s Trudeau in jumbled new tweet
The president has completely invented a trade deficit with Canada.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/03/trump-doubles-lie-told-canadas-trudeau-jumbled-new-tweet/
also at https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/donald-trump-doubles-down-his-bizarre-lie-justin-trudeau
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dor3eKbIEBDnKqMN86BF8UJ_eyOPM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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