Dairy Farmers of Manitoba Hosting Spring Meetings

Dairy Farmers of Manitoba (DFM) is busy hosting its spring meetings. Gatherings were held in Brandon and Winkler this week, with meetings scheduled for Steinbach and Headingly next week.

DFM Vice-Chair Henry Holtmann commented on the number of dairy producers in the province.HERNRY HOLTMANN SMALL

DFM Vice-Chair Henry Holtmann

"We're at the 275 mark for producers. It's slowly declines about one per cent per year," he said. "When we look at what those farm do, they produce the same, if not more milk than what they did in the past. Productivity is going up and the average size of the farm is going up."

Holtmann notes dairy demand is increasing on average about two per cent per year.

"We're seeing fluid milk decline but we're seeing creams and cheeses increase. The market is growing and Canadians are demanding more products but maybe the mix is changing a little bit."

He added they are still waiting for details on how the federal government's compensation package, announced in the budget, will be rolled out. Dairy Farmers of Manitoba says total tariff-free access given up in WTO, CETA, CPTPP, and CUSMA trade deals is 18%, resulting in a loss of revenue of $1.3 billion per year.