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FROMTHEPUBLISHER'SDESK FOODSECURITY
Tars
Cheema
I’ve found myself searching for wisdom and encouragement from many sources over the past year as we all know how tough times have been for dairy producers – particularly in BC. Tough times are not new to farming... but the number of blows in repeated sequence have made the past four years truly unusual.
The severe interest rate hikes of the past year have caused much damage – relief is coming the experts say, but it’s slow and no one expects rates to drop back to 2%!
We are going to continue hearing more about ‘sustainability’ in farming... it means so many things – but we can’t ignore the imperative of economic sustainability near the top of the list. We need regulators and those in
power to ensure producers from coast to coast have economic conditions that are fair and allow good producers to survive.
We’ve heard about the restrictions in NZ, Netherlands and across Europe which are choking out farming and dairying in particular. I keep wondering... if we make farmers our enemies, who will produce the food for 8+ billion people? I’m sorry, I just don’t see labs replacing millions of acres of farming. Food production will continue to evolve and some consumers will migrate to techno- food but no one expects laboratories to make food cheaper! Large-scale, efficient farms are the ones who have made food production so resource- efficient and so affordable over the past
100 years that our global standard of living has never been higher. With so few people left in direct contact with agriculture, the imbalance has finally become evident.
Food security has never been more crucial, as people are slowly waking up to the reality of ‘No Farmers – No Food.’
BC Holstein News has been here witnessing and recording the times across the dairy industry for 45 years. We could not have done this without advertisers/sponsors, the BC Branch and producer support. We look forward to continuing this journey and wish everyone good success through 2024- 2025!
BC DAIRY ASSOCIATION CHAIR/ WESTERN MILK POOL BOARD DIRECTOR
Casey
Pruim
While economic times remain challenging for many dairy farmers, there are reasons for optimism this year.
New quota was issued in February for the first time since before the pandemic. Demand for our products is steady while inflation has stabilized. There is growth on the horizon, with construction of Dairy Innovation West (DIW) now well underway and other processing capacity being pursued. DIW is set to begin operations in 2025, and once operational, will help manage transportation costs for all farmers in the west.
Cost of production does remain high, the cost of feed, fertilizer, and fuel all well
above what they were a couple of years ago. There are challenges with water access, making investments required to adapt to our changing climate, and flood protection infrastructure.
But, with focused work and persistence, BC Dairy is making progress on those matters, engaging with multiple stakeholders to address challenges while growing the industry.
We’re actively engaged with government about removing barriers to growth and impediments to economic sustainability, and to support local food production. We are working collaboratively across the Western Milk Pool to attract more processing capacity
to the west, with the potential for positive impacts like those of DIW.
Supporting this work, we are in the process of updating BC Dairy’s governance structure – considering the number of board members we need to do our work and ensure fair representation and modernizing our bylaws.
Dairy farmers ourselves, we understand the challenges we are all facing and are addressing them head-on. Our top priority is always to represent the needs of our members and advocate on your behalf, while creating long-term growth opportunities.
BC MILK MARKETING BOARD CHAIR / WESTERN MILK POOL BOARD VICE-CHAIR
Janice
Comeau
The past 18 months remained challenging for BC’s dairy farmers due to rising input costs and interest rates. At BC Milk and the Western Milk Pool, our focus remains generating cost efficiencies to support the important work dairy farmers are doing.
We have been working to obtain some relief through sharing of transportation costs on a national level, holding numerous discussions with our national partners about solutions that are fair and equitable.
Construction of Dairy Innovation West (DIW) got underway in late 2023. We are on track for a 2025 opening, and anticipate significant transportation cost savings once the facility is at full capacity.
DIW will concentrate raw milk from farms in Central Alberta – for every three or four trucks of milk entering the plant, only one of concentrate will leave,
driving to processing facilities in BC and other western provinces. Fewer trucks mean lower transportation costs – as well as the associated environmental impacts.
Western dairy farmers pool transportation costs, so this will moderate that expense for all farmers in the Western Milk Pool. Transportation remains one of the most significant costs farmers bear – DIW’s an important step to moderate it, and we continue to seek other projects.
There have been a few positives on other fronts as well. Milk prices increased on May 1. Producers received their first quota allocation increase since Covid and implementation of tariff allocations with CUSMA. We expect further quota increases will be on the horizon as the tariff allocations have been filled for the most part.
With the Western Milk Pool, we are working at the national table on market
growth. As with transportation costs, we are focused on a fair and equitable outcome for market sharing. We know costs remain high and many farms are struggling. We know there is frustration, and are doing what we can to address those points of friction.
To that end, our collaboration on other opportunities to increase production capacity in western Canada and find other efficiencies continues. That is the strength of the Western Milk Pool project we’ve been undertaking for the last couple of years – through this collaboration, western Canada’s dairy farmers are able to speak with a unified voice at the national table and create economies of scale necessary for projects like DIW.
The fact is some of these efforts are longer-term, and will take some time to bring to fruition. But, they remain our top priority and we are determined to see them through.
B.C. HOLSTEIN DAIRY DIRECTORY 2024/2025 9