Trump’s much a-moo about nothing

Canada’s supply system did not create U.S. dairy crisis,

Every time Canada sits down at a trade table, supply management makes the headlines. But under our rulesbased global trading system, such challenges have been easily dismissed: Canada’s supply management system for milk, poultry and eggs matches domestic supply to demand, and its products do not disrupt international trade flows.

Unlike wheat and canola, which are produced for export markets, the fragility and perishability of fresh milk, eggs and poultry make them costly to transport long distances. Through a system of price, production and import controls, supply management ensures Canadian consumers of dairy, egg and poultry are supplied by local, sustainable Canadian family farms without one penny of taxpayer subsidy.

Moreover, Canadian consumers are getting a good deal when they buy Canadian milk. In 2017, milk prices averaged $1.51 a litre in Canada. Bovine Growth Hormone-free milk in the U.S. averaged $1.64 a litre; $1.27 for “normal” milk (all prices Canadian). Canadians also pay significantly less for milk than do consumers in many developed countries (Nielsen, 2017).

For almost half a century, Canada’s system of supply management has delivered the best interests of communities, the environment and the farmer, who is after all responsible not only for producing food for today but — most importantly — young farmers for tomorrow. U.S. farmers already want what Canada’s farmers have. It’s that simple. So why all the fuss about Canadian milk?

There are several factors at play: a) America’s decadelong dairy crisis; b) the political importance of Wisconsin; c) the alarming ascendancy of alt-facts and fake news; and d) Donald Trump.

The crisis in the U.S. dairy sector has its roots in globalization. For more than a decade, unregulated global production has resulted in wild swings in milk prices. Since 2006, the milk cheques of American farmers have failed to cover production costs. One-third of U.S. dairy farms have shut down, but milk production increased as fewer farmers milked more cows. Today, four per cent of American dairy farms produce 50 per cent of the milk. Thanks to U.S. taxpayer subsidies contributing two-thirds of farm income, America is now awash in surplus milk and U.S. dairy farmers are losing their shirts. In the first nine months of 2016, 43 million gallons of perfectly good milk was dumped in farm fields or fed to cattle. That fall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture offered to purchase and stockpile $20 million worth of cheddar cheese to reduce oversupply.

Wisconsin — “America’s Dairyland” — was hit hard. The top U.S. cheese producer, Wisconsin is home to more dairy cows than we have in all of Canada. Significantly more. Last year, Wisconsin’s milk production was one and a half times total Canadian production. And Wisconsin, just a stones throw from our border, is itching to export milk to Canada. Coincidentally, Wisconsin is one of 12 “swing states” that will be aggressively targeted by both parties in the 2020 election. In April 2017, Trump met with Wisconsin dairy farmers, promising to get rid of Canada’s “unfair tariffs.” It’s payback time.

Because the complexities of farm policy don’t lend themselves to 260-character rebuttals, the ascendance of fake news makes the situation all the more dangerous for Canada’s cows. Reminiscent of the wonderland that lay on the other side of Alice’s looking glass, the Trump White House exists in a parallel universe where facts morph into alt-facts, fake news masquerades as real news, and the raging Red Queen has been replaced by an Orange Bully-Clown bellowing “off with your head” to staff, politicians and state leaders alike.

Perhaps, like Young Sheldon, Trump was frightened by a cow in his youth. Perhaps it’s because he finds himself standing in cow pies every time he turns around and everyone is noticing his stink. Perhaps it’s just all about Wisconsin. Or Kim Jong Un.

For whatever Trumped-up reason, this U.S. president is using Canada’s cows as a dog whistle to rally his base and threaten Canada’s negotiators in the NAFTA talks.

The best way to deal with a bully-clown is to stand him down. In the words of our prime minister: Yes, Canadians are polite, and yes we are reasonable, but we will not be pushed around. Suck it up Donald.

Supply management is good agricultural policy. Our agricultural policy. Only in Canada, you say? Pity.

Wendy Holm is a professional agrologist (Ret.) and agricultural economist.