Feed availability and costs will be the main issue for dairy farmers this year, wrote Farm Credit Canada’s senior economist Graeme Crosby.
Forages are at issue in Western Canada where droughts have reduced production and increased prices.
But corn has been coming in from the United States and put a lid on feed cost increases. Things should be good for the first half of this year, he said.
“It has been a volatile few years for dairy producers but 2024 is shaping up to be calmer – a return to a more normal environment, if you will,” Crosby wrote.
“Low butter stocks leave little room for error should production not meet anticipated demand,” he said.
There may be more incentive day announcements, he said.
Consumer demand is holding up fairly well, despite price increases, he said, perhaps because prices for other foods have increased even more.
He predicts farmers' milk prices will go up by about 1.3 per cent when the May update is due.
