Reading Time: < 1 minute Another storied eastern Ontario artisanal cheesemaker is set to go co-op. Gay Lea Foods, billed as Ontario’s biggest and Canada’s second-biggest dairy co-operative, announced a deal Wednesday to buy Black River Cheese Co. effective June 1 for an undisclosed sum. Based in Prince Edward County at Milford, about 45 km southeast of Belleville, Black River […] Read more
Gay Lea buys Ontario artisanal cheesemaker
Young farmers getting a head start
Among supply management’s successes are its programs to help young farmers get established
Reading Time: 10 minutes “We’ve got a lot of young people coming in,” says Tim Lambert, CEO of the Egg Farmers of Canada. Like others, he credits board programs that give young farmers preferential access not only to quota, but to training in business leadership, and management. Yet underpinning it all, says Lambert, is income security. “They earn a […] Read more
Agropur halts its diafiltered milk imports
Reading Time: 3 minutes Updated, May 11, 2016 — Canadian dairy processing co-operative Agropur says a three-month national program to subsidize use of Canadian dairy ingredients will allow it to “immediately” end its own imports of diafiltered milk. “We had pledged to stop importing diafiltered milk as soon as conditions allowed,” co-op president Serge Riendeau said Tuesday in a […] Read more
Ottawa plans talks toward dairy farmers’ CETA compensation
Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal government has pledged to meet with dairy sector representatives within 30 days to draw up a compensation plan for concessions made in Canada’s planned free trade pact with the European Union. “Our conversations will address, among other issues, transition support for producers and processors, as well as proposed program and investment options,” Agriculture […] Read more
Their quota of doubt
TPP may not have opened the floodgates, but it will let in enough imports to alter the outlook for Canada’s dairy farmers
Reading Time: 5 minutes It would have taken a lot more than a butter knife to cut the tension on dairy farms across Canada this past year while the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators were talking behind closed doors. So now that the deal is out in the open, and now that it appears — at least on the surface […] Read more
Danone sales rise as dairy product demand revives
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — Danone on Tuesday reported stronger than expected first-quarter sales and said it was on track to deliver higher sales and profits this year despite challenging conditions in Brazil and Russia. The world’s largest yogurt maker, whose brands include Actimel and Activia, reported a 3.5 per cent increase in first-quarter like-for-like revenue, […] Read more
Taking control of their dairy future
For this young couple, the future means a multi-pronged business strategy, with cost control, diversification and a focus on efficiency
Reading Time: 5 minutes Just as the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement was being signed last fall, Cam and Stephanie Murphy were signing a very different sort of partnership agreement. They were becoming part owners of a 45-cow dairy farm near Hastings, two hours east of Toronto. Together with Stephanie’s parents, Dean and Carol Warner, they took on a seven-figure debt […] Read more
Focusing on efficiency in dairy production
The good old days aren’t coming back, but the Bassas believe success is still possible for farms that focus from top to bottom on efficiency
Reading Time: 5 minutes In 1991, Piet and Ina Bassa sold their dairy farm in Holland, packed up their family and headed to Canada, leaving not only Europe’s high costs but also its tough environmental regulations and manure quotas that made expansion almost impossible. Importantly, their sons, Jan and Kees, were keen to start farming, so the family bought […] Read more
Profitability and sustainability in the dairy business
Kevin MacLean wants consumers and politicians to know how valuable supply management is for Canada
Reading Time: 4 minutes For Kevin MacLean, the cost of quota is just part of being in a business he loves. “I’ve never seen quota as a risk. Just like you need land to crop, you need quota to dairy farm. It’s a long-term investment.” MacLean echoes a sentiment sometimes heard in country circles. There are two things you […] Read more
Russian cheese lovers find way around import ban
Reading Time: 3 minutes Moscow | Reuters — An entrepreneur has found a way to supply Italian parmesan, Dutch Gouda and British Cheddar to cheese connoisseurs in Russia, sidestepping a ban on importing European food that the Kremlin imposed in the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine. Russia’s government banned wholesale imports of fresh food products from the European […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
