Dumping milk in Canada: New data quantifies the problem
In early 2023, a Dairy Global feature story explained why milk dumping was occurring in Canada. Literally dumping milk down the drain in the barn, rather than it being consumed in some way, has been happening for over a decade due to the national milk supply management (quota) system.
Just how much milk is being dumped has been hard to quantify. Now, data from a new study that will appear in the January issue of the journal Ecological Economics notes that 6-10 billion litres of milk have been dumped since 2012. One of the study authors, Dr Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia Canada, says that this staggering amount of waste “reflects an outdated system that misaligns with today’s environmental imperatives and market demands”.
In a new opinion article, Charlebois calls for industry transparency, along with adopting practices used by the US dairy industry to monitor milk waste.
Re-evaluation of the system
He also writes that a re-evaluation of the quota system is overdue. “The current system,” he notes, “is based on outdated assumptions about the nutritional indispensability of milk. By recalibrating quotas to better reflect the modern dietary landscape, which increasingly includes plant-based alternatives, Canada can take a step towards a more sustainable agricultural framework.”
He calls on dairy farmers to produce data that might contradict the study data. And as a short-term solution, Charlebois would like the Canadian dairy sector to explore the export of surplus milk as a way to manage excess production.
Canadian milk exported as formula
As a person noted on the social media platform X, all the dumped milk “could’ve made baby formula or something that we need as Canadians”. There is only one formula plant in Canada – a new plant in Ontario constructed by the Chinese-owned firm Canada Royal Milk – but all the formula made there is exported to China.
To build the plant, the firm received both provincial and federal funding in 2017. The former head of the Canadian Dairy Commission, who “facilitated a $225-million investment” by Canada Royal Milk to build its plant, also later took a paid position on the company’s board of directors.
Charlebois has stated many times that this plant should have been built by Canadian dairy farmers, and that “their lack of foresight got them to believe it was impossible to export milk abroad”.
Understanding supply management
Supply management is a system wherein dairy farmers inherit or purchase ‘quota’ for a certain amount of milk, for which they are required by the Canadian Dairy Commission to charge a mandated rate. Farmers are only paid for the milk within their quota, and any surplus must be put down the barn drain. Any sale of milk outside quota could result in steep fines or even the suspension of producer licences.
There are certainly strengths and weaknesses to supply management, but many are critical of it from a consumer standpoint. As explained in a national Canadian newspaper: “Milk dumping…is done very deliberately to maintain high prices for Canadian milk. Ever since the 1970s, Canadian dairy farmers have been subject to a state-sanctioned cartel that artificially limits supply in order to drive up prices and ensure profitability for farmers.”
Last year’s eruption
The issue of milk going to waste gained national attention in February 2023 when one of the owners at Huigen Bros. dairy farm in southern Ontario posted a video. Jerry Huigen stated that they were currently dumping 30,000 litres of milk because their production was over quota due to the more consistent feed that the cows across the country tend to receive in the winter.
In an article at the time, it was noted that Ontario’s milk board allows every dairy farmer in that province to carry an ‘over-quota production float’ of 10 days of the farm’s daily quota as needed, for which a farmer is paid in full. It was suggested that farmers like Huigen should cull some of their cows or dry some off early to ensure their winter milk production better matches their quota.
By 10 February 2023, fellow Ontario dairy farmers had started an online petition to end milk dumping. It stated that “with a strategy and some investments, our sector can have a positive impact on the environment, generate more revenue growth and develop new markets for our great product.”
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