RESEARCH

Dairy is the largest agriculture sector in Ontario, making up close to 20 per cent of the province's agricultural products.

Ontario, being close to a market of over 130 million consumers, has a dynamic dairy industry with over 5500 dairy farmers.
 

Advantages

• Because of the supply management system, which uses quota to regulate production, dairy farmers enjoy stable margins and strong milk prices.
• This strong regulatory marketing system under the Milk Act provides stability, predictable returns and market access so farmers can focus on producing milk instead of worrying about large price fluctuations and cheap imports.
• Ontario has high quality dairy genetics, high quality crops and many newer facilities allowing for excellent results and world-class dairying.

Ontario Dairy Quota

• Quota is traded on a central exchange with supply and demand setting the price. Milk prices are adjusted as needed to maintain competitive prices for the consumer while ensuring that efficient producers can generate excellent returns.
• Farmers continue to invest in quota despite the high price as an ‘insurance’ to avoid the dramatic price fluctuations of the U.S. market. Investment in quota is a positive indicator of Ontario dairy farmers’ competitiveness within Canadian agriculture.
• There is continued pressure on the world stage to stage to lower agricultural tariffs on all agricultural products including supply-managed sectors. The Canadian government is, however, a strong defender of supply management at the World Trade Organization.