Quebec's milk losses are minimal union says

Martin Caron, General President of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA), speaks at a press conference in Montreal on Monday March 27, 2023. He is accompanied by the Quebec Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne, centre, and the then federal Minister of Agriculture, Marie-Claude Bibeau, right. (The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes)

The general president of the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), Martin Caron, questions a study claiming that Canadian dairy farms have discarded a significant amount of milk over the past decade. He disputes that supply management could be one of the causes of this waste.

"The milk we lose is minimal," said Caron in an interview with The Canadian Press, following an address to the Montreal Council on International Relations on Thursday afternoon.

"If I compare it to the global average, which is 20 per cent losses, we are far from that here in Quebec. It's very little here because we produce over 3 billion liters of milk and it's a few million here and there per year that we risk (losing)," he said, without providing further details.

Several media outlets have reported in recent days the findings of a study conducted by three university researchers: Sylvain Charlebois, of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Thomas Elliot, of Aalborg University in Denmark, and Benjamin Goldstein, of the University of Michigan.

According to their estimates, 6.8 billion liters of milk, or about 7 per cent of the country's total production, was discarded between 2012 and 2021. The study is due to be published in the journal "Ecological Economics" in January.

The authors point to the current form of the supply management system as a possible consequence of this waste. Caron regrets that this mechanism is being targeted as "contrary to the development of food security."

"It's far from that," he says. "If we have a number of farms that are maintained here in Quebec, it's thanks to supply management. There is no milk producer who wants to throw away their surplus milk."

Losses can be caused by various factors, such as storms, factory closures, or transportation problems, explains Caron.

"There is no producer who benefits from throwing away milk and thinking about raising the price. It penalizes us when we throw away milk because we bear the cost from A to Z," said the UPA leader.

Reviewing the quota system

The study does not call for an end to the quota system, but rather for a review of it. Supply management is part of the solution, says Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

"The spirit behind the study is to recognize that supply management is a fundamental tool to eliminate any surplus," he said in an interview in response to the UPA's comments.

"Surpluses are perfectly normal. We shouldn't expect cows to be robots. What is problematic in the case of Canada is that there is no strategy to manage surpluses," says Charlebois.

The authors of the research recommend reforming the system to penalize overproduction rather than underproduction.

The Canadian Dairy Commission could also be mandated to manage surpluses as it does with butter by having a strategic reserve, says Charlebois.

The professor and his colleagues call for greater responsibility in the face of surplus and for awareness of the extent of milk waste. The authors also advocate for more transparency on the volume of overproduction.

"We feel it's going to move on the Senate side"

Caron is also optimistic that the Bloc Québécois bill to protect supply management in trade negotiations will be passed soon.

Bill C-282, which was sent from the House of Commons to the Senate nearly a year and a half ago, is still being studied in Senate committee.

"We feel it's going to move on the Senate side," said Caron, who met with senators two weeks ago.

Knowing that a majority of MPs have already voted in favor of the bill, "it should be something easy and very quick" on the Senate side, he believes.

However, the UPA does not want to get involved in the ultimatum launched by the Bloc Québécois to have their legislation passed by October 29. This is one of the two conditions of the Bloc Québécois to prevent the Trudeau government from being overthrown.

"The important thing is that the people in the Senate pass the bill as quickly as possible" and before an election is called, Caron said.

This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on Oct. 19, 2024