Dairy Farmers of Manitoba holds spring meetings

Apr 25, 2022

Dairy Farmers of Manitoba held in-person spring meetings this month.

Chair David Wiens talked about market demand.

"What we saw earlier in the pandemic was fluid milk consumption, the table milk, once that transitioned more into the home, we actually saw a bump in that consumption, which we're now seeing that returning to kind of the former trend which is a slight decline in milk consumption. More and more Canadians are eating their dairy rather than drinking their dairy products."

He notes demand for cheese consumption remains strong.

Wiens also commented on processing capacity.

"Things are fairly stable here in Manitoba in terms of processing. We are certainly talking to a number of players about expanding their operations. This ranges from the larger players to the niche players that are making specialty products. There certainly is interest in continuing to grow the industry and of course Manitoba working very closely with the other three western provinces, we're looking at projects right across the west that will help us grow our industry here in Manitoba as well."

Meetings were held in Winkler and Steinbach.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.