Dairy

Union Farmer Newsletter: February 2023

In this issue: Advocating for farmland protection in Ontario Towards a National Agricultural Labour Strategy that works for Farmers and Farm Workers Public transit should not stop at the city Read more

Why farmers are not celebrating CETA’s five-year anniversary

September 21 marked the five-year anniversary of the provisional application of the Canada–EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). It is no surprise to the National Farmers Union (NFU) that farmers are not happy with the results. Negotiations on the agricultural chapter were strained to the point that it was one of the last areas to be agreed upon. In the media, the issues were presented as a trade-off between allowing the EU more access to our supply-managed dairy market in return for gaining more access to the EU’s market for Canadian beef. Some political commentators looked for cheap points by framing this purported stalemate as a conflict between western ranchers and dairy producers in Ontario and Quebec. The NFU had a more sophisticated analysis, which time has proven to be accurate. Read more

Union Farmer Newsletter: February 2022

In this issue: NFU calls for Fertilizer Price Investigation CUSMA Dairy Trade Dispute Farmers Beware the Variety Use Agreement Gene Editing News NFU CALLS FOR FERTILIZER PRICE INVESTIGATION Farmers are Read more

Grocery Prices are Rising and Farmers’ Share Declining as Corporate Processors and Retailers Take More and More

Swift Current, SK—Retail food prices are rising. To explain these increases, many commentators point to rising prices for farm products and cite drought, other production problems, the pandemic, or supply-chain Read more

NFU Submission on Bill C-216 Supply Management

The NFU supports Bill C-216, which would ensure that in all future trade agreement negotiations, the government of Canada would not commit to any further foreign access to Canadian supply-managed markets and would not lower or eliminate tariffs on supply-managed goods that are imported over and above existing Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) levels. Read more

Op Ed: US farm groups and unions ask Biden to end CUSMA attack on Canada’s supply management system

This Op Ed was originally published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on The Monitor Online. On February 1, American farm, labour and civil society organizations formally asked the Biden-Harris Read more

COVID emergency funds can help build a more robust food system

The pandemic shines a spotlight on vulnerabilities in our food system, providing the opportunity to use emergency supports to create the foundation for a more robust and resilient food system. Read more

Op-Ed: Oil, dairy supply management paradox points to need for a new policy direction

On December 2, the Alberta government announced it will impose production discipline on the province’s oil companies to bring the price of bitumen-based oil above its cost of production. This Read more

As if the USMCA dairy concessions were not bad enough…

It is deeply concerning, though not surprising, that the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has at least three chapters that formally entrench corporate influence on government decision-making. Read more

Canadian dairy farmers hit yet again with new trade agreement, says NFU

The Canadian government again secured a trade deal by sacrificing another vital part of domestic supply management. NAFTA will be replaced with a new trade agreement, now called USMCA, the US Mexico Canada Agreement. Read more