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Mid-year farm gate price hike approved for milk

Processors say incremental hike may soften impact on consumers

A request from Canada’s dairy farmer organization for an unscheduled increase in the current farm gate price for milk, to help farmers catch up with steep rises in their costs of production, has been granted. The Canadian Dairy Commission said Tuesday it will recommend that the farm gate price for milk be increased effective Sept. […] Read more

Julie Van Rosendaal’s tweet sparked a ‘buttergate’ controversy that generated headlines around the globe from news outlets including the New York Times, BBC, Guardian, even Al Jazeera.

There’s a lesson in ‘buttergate’ for all farmers, says food writer

Julie Van Rosendaal’s tweet ignited a controversy but the issue shows ‘people are paying attention’

Reading Time: 5 minutes Julie Van Rosendaal spent a lot of time last year thinking about butter. And then she got a lot of people talking about it. Last February, the Calgary-based cook and food writer found herself wondering why butter she was using was firmer than expected at room temperature and harder to spread. “I started buying butter […] Read more


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Study finds no data to show change in butter consistency

Not enough data to link to palm supplement use, either

Updated, Jan. 24 — A panel tasked with reviewing complaints of changes in Canadian butter’s consistency has found there’s not enough data out there to support those complaints — nor to support the allegation that palm byproducts in cows’ rations were the cause. The Expert Working Group on Feed Supplementation, set up by Dairy Farmers […] Read more

The social media chatter and news stories started spreading when the butter stopped being so easy to apply on a slice of bread.

‘Buttergate’ has dairy sector on the defensive

Hard-to-spread butter suddenly becomes an international controversy on what Canadian dairy farmers feed their cows

Reading Time: 2 minutes It started with a few tweets and texts, but escalated into an issue that drew international attention — and a vow from the chair of Alberta Milk “to do better.” It began with people wondering why their butter no longer spread easily at room temperature before suddenly turning into a controversy over what dairy farmers […] Read more


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Dairy farmers asked to pass on palm byproducts in rations, for now

Seek out other ingredients while hard-butter issue under review, DFC asks

Canadian dairy farmers whose feed rations include supplements made with palm byproducts are being asked to consider other options while consumer complaints over butter are probed more closely. Dairy Farmers of Canada on Thursday asked its farmer members to “consider alternatives to palm supplements” pending the outcome of a review of “issues that have been […] Read more

Pandemic spurs farm gate milk price hike

Pandemic spurs farm gate milk price hike

Dairy Commission to lift price effective Feb. 1 next year

With the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, the Canadian Dairy Commission has set aside its usual milk price adjustment formula and will instead increase the price based on its own review. The CDC on Monday announced the farm gate price of milk will increase by $1.46 per hectolitre (100 litres) effective Feb. 1, 2021, pending approval […] Read more


According to a study by Alberta Agriculture, the cost of producing milk in Alberta decreased by five per cent in 2017.

The cost of feed was a plus for dairy producers one year ago

Reading Time: < 1 minute Dairy farmers not only saw more demand for their production in 2017 but enjoyed lower feed costs, says the latest provincial report on the economics of milk production. The cost of producing milk in Alberta decreased by five per cent in 2017 compared to 2016, said research analyst Pauline Van Biert. “The total cost for […] Read more

(Lactantia.ca)

Dairy support prices stand pat for 2018

The Canadian Dairy Commission plans to hold the line on the support levels used to price industrial milk in Canada next year, despite a “small reduction” in the cost of milk production. The commission announced Friday it would maintain the per-kilogram support prices it sets for butter and skim milk powder at $8.0062 and $4.5302 […] Read more


(DairyGoodness.ca)

Butter stocks drive eastern dairy quota increase

Increasing demand for dairy products — including a need to build butter stock — has meant a one per cent increasing in saleable dairy quota, and incentive days from November to March 2018, for eastern Canadian dairy farmers. The P5 dairy farm boards, representing Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, announced […] Read more

(Thinkstock photo)

Eastern dairy farmers get big quota increase

The eastern Canadian provinces have approved a five per cent dairy quota increase — their largest one-time quota increase since the daily quota system was implemented in 1998. It will also be implemented quickly, on July 1. The five provinces — Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario — create quota policy […] Read more