Family farms and supply management

Re: The real threat to the family farm is inertia, Aug. 12.

I am writing today to express my disappointment in Sylvain Charlebois’ opinion piece. Although he succeeds in muddying the waters by making a technical case against supply management, his line of argument is misleading and rests on several false premises.

Charlebois correctly notes the total decline in the amount of dairy farms in Canada from 19702006 was around 88 per cent. However, he continues by stating, “In fairness, however, it is not known if supply management policy was in fact successful in slowing the decline family dairy farms in Canada.”

A quick look at the same numbers used by Charlebois shows the rate of decline in the number of Canadian dairy farms from 1970-1990 was an average of 3.50 per cent per year. From 19902010, the rate of decline slowed significantly to an average of 2.87 per cent per year. Most tellingly, from 2010-2014, the rate of decline fell to an average of 1.55 per cent per year. Based on current trends, the decline in the number of dairy farms is more likely to level-off than it is to keep going.

Charlebois also contends that under supply management, Canadian farms have no incentive to innovate. The reality is that from 1973-2014, numerous technological innovations at the farm level have led to milk yield increases in Canada of plus-134 per cent; a significant gain in efficiency. The yield increases here in Canada have outpaced those in other jurisdictions over the same period, including the U.S. (plus116 per cent), the UK (plus-91 per cent), and New Zealand (plus-49 per cent). Additionally, in non-supply managed jurisdictions, it is typically only large factory farms that have the capacity to innovate; in Canada, supply management affords even modest family farms that freedom and incentive.

Charlebois argues that supply management does nothing to protect family farms; this couldn’t be more wrong. One need only look at the U.S. to see what happens to family farms without supply management. Statistics show that in the U.S., on average, farmers need to have at least 500 cows to achieve a positive net income. In Canada, the average herd size is 77 cows, and most of these farms are able to achieve a modest positive return. The reality is abandoning supply management would lead to the same type of dominance by big producers that we see in the US, and would force most family farms out of business.

The bottom line is that by any measurement, supply management is good for farmers and Canada. Wally Smith, President, Dairy Farmers of Canada