High prices not farmers’ fault

Re: “Udder madness on the farm; Canadian dairy industry doesn’t need a nuclear deterrent,” by William Watson, Ideas, May 21. Albertans know that the economic boom has driven up prices in our stores and real estate market more than elsewhere in Canada.

So I am slightly amused at columnist William Watson’s attempt to blame the retail prices of dairy products on farmers.

Yes, milk prices are regulated at the farm level, but after milk leaves the farm, processors and distributors will figure out their own profit margins for the products they sell.

Where there is no supply management, farmers are the only business people in the chain with no ability to influence the price they get for their product, even when faced with increased costs because of factors outside their control.

Last year, dairy farmers in Europe, the U.S., Australia and Argentina protested in the streets because the prices they received were inadequate.

One case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy 10 years ago altered the agriculture economy of Alberta. This big market disruption is only one example that shows lower prices at the farm are not reaching consumers.

When farm prices plummet, processors or retailers simply take a larger share of consumers’ dollars. Hennie Bos, dairy producer, Lacombe