Milk quota increase could lead to on-farm growth

Dec 19, 2014

Milk quota increase of three per cent in Ontario at the end of the calendar year

By Travis Palen, University of Guelph Agricultural Communications Student, for Farms.com

A milk quota increase of three per cent will be implemented at the end of this calendar year, meaning producers will be able to ship more milk each month. With quota being the current limiting factor, this increase opens up an area for on- farm growth.

Canadian dairy farmers are rejoicing after they were informed that the increase on the amount of milk they could ship per month would take place December 1. Their glee stems from the ability to now be able to ship more milk. The Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) announced the increase in response to a deficit in national butter stocks, along with a five per cent increase in butter consumption and an increase in overall milk and cheese consumption.

To implement this increase the DFO will evaluate the current individual on-farm milk quota and reassign the farm quota including the three per cent increase into the farm records. This will allow more milk to be shipped monthly.

“This increase couldn’t come soon enough,” says Gerhardus Steenbeek, the owner of Steenbeek Dairy Farms Inc., a 300-head dairy operation in Huron County. “With our current quota maxed out, it has been difficult for us to expand and grow our farm to its full potential. The increase will be very beneficial on our farm and allow for us to ship more monthly milk.”

Dairy farmers are happy to accept the extra quota. With farmers only being able to bid on and purchase an extremely small amount of quota per month (around .1 per cent) this large increase has been long awaited.

Quota has been a limiting factor for growth and expansion on farms such as the Steenbeek’s, by limiting the amount of milk they can ship. The quota cap has caused many farms to fall short of their full milk production potential. These farms have begun investing in other aspects of agriculture, including buying land, new buildings and new technologies.

“This is good for the industry, we need to see that growth with the growing population,” says Ian Harrop, DFC Ontario rep and district rep.

“It is the plan of the DFO to continue with these increases on a yearly basis.”

Travis Palen was born and raised on a hobby farm in Oxford county, as such he has always grown up around agriculture and has had an interest in it. This led Travis to pursue post-secondary studies in agriculture at the University of Guelph. He is currently in his 4th year in the animal science program offered at Guelph, hoping to finish his studies in the spring and begin his career as a ruminant nutritionist. Throughout his 4 years studying at Guelph, he has had the opportunity to take many informative and skill building classes including agricultural communications that he believes will help him to be successful on the next level of his career path. This article is part of Travis’ course work for the University of Guelph agricultural communications course, instructed by Prof. Owen Roberts.

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