Two
years ago dairy farmers in the United States took $22.2 billion dollars in
direct and indirect subsidies from federal, state and local governments.
A new
report by an international consulting company estimates that in 2015 the
support granted to U.S dairy producers represented approximately $35.02 Cdn per
hectoliter and that 73 per cent of of U.S. dairy farmers gathered some form of subsidy.
United States
Department of Agriculture data also reveals that dairy farmers operate at a
loss because their cost of production is higher than marketplace revenues.
The
release of the report done by Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates, an
international trade and public affiars consulting firm, comes in the midst of
NAFTA negotiations during which Americans have complained about Canadian
subsidies via supply management.
So the U.S. subsidies give Canadians a good excuse for supply management for dairy farmers, but there is no corresponding excuse for supply management for farmers producing eggs, chickens, turkeys and hatching eggs.
