Dr. Sylvain Charlebois says dairy farmers could solve their
over-quota milk issue by setting up a reserve similar to the stockpiling of
butter when supply exceeds demand.
“The Chinese figured how to export our own milk to China, while
Canadian dairy farmers claimed it wasn’t possible. You can dehydrate milk,
store it and create a strategic reserve, like we have with butter.
“The Canadian Dairy Commission would be responsible,” the
researcher from Dalhousie University said.
Canada Royal Milk in Kingston makes infant formula from Canadian
milk that’s then shipped to China. To build the plant, the firm received both
provincial and federal funding in 2017.
Charlebois says this plant should have been built by Canadian
dairy farmers.
Most of them, he says, don’t understand supply management
themselves, and furthermore, they “have no understanding of how the policy can
be adapted to modern expectations.
“So, when someone comes forward with any radical idea, they just
don’t understand why changes are necessary.
“The Chinese plant in Kingston should have been built by dairy
farmers, but their lack of foresight got them to believe it was impossible to
export milk abroad, especially not to China.”
The Canadian public is also not generally aware that the former
head of the CDC 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 said.
