Being a classic regular milk drinker, if you suddenly had a milk option come into your local market that was significantly cheaper, would you automatically switch to the cheaper milk?
Milk is already pretty cheap in the United States. The cost level depends on your interest in organic, regular, UHT, shelf-stable milk.
Canadians have rather good milk. They pay a hefty price for milk, but they get quality milk.
The newest trade deal between the United States, Canada, and Mexico (CUSMA | USMCA) means Canadians will get access to cheap American milk. Depending on the import costs, the savings could be $1-$2 for 4 liters (slightly more than 1 gallon).
UHT milk provides longer shelf life but nutrition and taste are lost
Farmers benefit more than consumers with Canada supply management
There is one distinct difference between the standard milk in both countries: recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), the artificial growth hormone allowed in American milk but banned for Canadian milk.
Canadian milk is already very good milk. Unfortunately, as we've noted in other stories, food budgets in the two countries are tight thanks to wage shrinkage and job growth in certain industries.
If you live in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes, your milk could come in a bag. The individual liter-sized bags are placed in a pitcher; the user cuts a diagonal slice into the top corner closest to the spout in the pitcher. The process (pronounced PRO-cess in Canada) is easier than it sounds. You won't find American milk in a bag.
The American milk will need to be labeled in English and French, since Canada requires bilingual food labeling.
American dairy companies might try to get around this by shipping its products to be used in cheese, yogurt (yoghurt in Canada), and butter. The milk products should be identified as American; as we've seen from meat classification between United States and Canada, country of origin labeling has been a concern. Consumers should know where their food comes from, especially with rBST.
CUSMA passes through U.S. Congress
NAFTA 2.0, er, USMCA is a nightmarish trade deal for Canada
Canadian milk is more expensive because Canadian dairy farmers get better compensation. The U.S. government encourages overproduction of American milk so trade deals are engineered to dump cheap American milk onto other countries, such as Canada.
The supply management system in Canada is politically protected. Liberal, Conservative, NDP: all behind supply management.
Given the number of U.S. dairy farms that are going under, Americans should consider a smarter dairy management system with better compensation.
Consumer cost of milk, cheese, butter, and other dairy products needs to be weighed (whey-ed) against the quality of the product and the compensation for farmers.
Canada election 2019 is underway and food policy should be discussed
BalanceofFood.com Canada food policy coverage
The new trade deal is expected to go through on July 1.
photo credit: Dairy Farmers of Canada
video credit: YouTube/pincstuff
Comments