Quote:
Originally Posted by opendoor
Virtually every western country heavily subsidizes dairy production, so we really have 3 options:
1) Continue to pay higher prices at the point of purchase to keep production viable.
2) Allow more production (some of which will be unprofitable) and then do what the US does and heavily subsidize farmers with taxpayer dollars, including paying farmers to throw away milk.
3) Essentially give up a good chunk of our dairy industry and allow the US to dump cheap dairy on us.
#3 is untenable long term. I think #2 is a viable option (that's what most countries do) and would probably reduce the production costs a bit, but any solution that gets rid of supply management without big subsidies is unrealistic.
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There isn't any logical basis for this. Right now we produce essentially 100% of our dairy. The huge tariffs keep imports out.
While allowing your scenario 3 would have the US subsidizing our food costs, for food security we may not want to do that.
Leaving the the tariffs and removing the supply management (quota) system would allow more Canadian producers to add supply. It would also lower the cost of local supply, because right now a significant cost is buying quota.
If you disallow foreign competition and don't subsidize producers, the price will settle below current prices but above US prices.
The reason other countries subsidize is that their dairy farmers are rich and politically powerful to. Maybe I'm idealistic enough to believe that we can make decisions based on logic and reason and not just who is politically powerful. I hope we get there some day.
Because higher dairy prices make things like milk, cheese, yogurt and infant formula more expensive. That hurts poor kids/families more than anyone to benefit millionaires.