It was good news for supply management which aims to balance milk production with demand on a butterfat basis.
There was less skim milk to contend with because Canadian consumer demand does not meet production, so the extra has to go somewhere, such as into livestock and pet foods or export.
Canada is facing accusations from United States and New Zealand dairies that it is breaking trade rules with exports of these no-fat products.
At the Dairy Farmers of Ontario annual meeting recently in Toronto, Benoit Basillais, chief executive officer of the Canadian Dairy Commission, said that the increase in butterfat percentage on farms means that in 2024 there was some skim milk that was worthless in that it could not be sold, but that amount (nine-tenths of one per cent) was 58 per cent less than the year before.
“Our goal is zero per cent. It’s very important for CDC, it’s very important that all SNF (solids, not fat, i.e. skim milk) be value added and generate income and that’s what we’re working on,” he said.
