Montreal-based Saputo announced last Thursday it has construction underway on a new $240 million cut-and-wrap cheese plant in the Milwaukee suburb of Franklin, to be up and running at capacity by the third quarter of 2025 (all figures Cdn$).

When the new plant is ready, Saputo said it expects to transfer other packaging operations there. To that end, the company said it plans to close its plant at Big Stone City, S.D., about 200 km south of Fargo, in the third quarter of next fiscal year, and another Wisconsin plant at Green Bay in its 2025 Q3.

Also, another Saputo plant at Tulare, California previously slated to be shut down will now get $75 million in renovations to convert to string cheese packaging, to be up and running at capacity by Q3 of 2025.

After that, a Los Angeles-area string cheese packaging plant, at South Gate, will be closed and its work transferred to the converted Tulare site, about 300 km north.

Saputo said the investment at Tulare “will help support the company’s growth ambitions and sustain its leadership position in the string cheese product category.”

In all, Saputo said, while the new Franklin plant alone is expected to take on about 600 people, about 720 positions will be affected in the pending plant closures. Affected workers will be offered opportunities to relocate to other Saputo plants and, if no spots are available, the workers will get “severance and outplacement support.”

The projects announced last Thursday “aim to solidify our ability to meet current and future customer demand and further improve our cost structure,” said Saputo CEO Lino Saputo said in a release.

Improving its capacity to produce goods in its higher-margin value-added categories will “fuel our aspirations to further enhance our value proposition as a high-quality, low-cost processor” in the U.S., he said.

The plant consolidations and investments are expected to improve Saputo’s bottom line by up to $74 million per year ($55 million after taxes) by the end of its fiscal 2027, the company said.

Saputo’s U.S. dairy division makes, sells and distributes a “vast assortment” of cheeses, including mozzarella, American-style and specialty cheeses, among other products. In its fiscal 2022, ending last March 31, U.S. revenue made up 43 per cent of the company’s total.

During that fiscal year, the company said in its annual report, its U.S. dairy division was its “most challenged platform,” up against “substantial commodity volatility” as well as “labour, inflation and supply chain pressures.”

The company’s U.S. arm in fiscal 2022 booked gross revenue of $6.41 billion, up from $6.12 billion the previous year, but the U.S. arm’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) came in at $288 million for 2022, down from $567 million.

Saputo’s U.S. sector has since booked improved revenue and EBITDA in each of its first and second quarters for fiscal 2023, for combined EBITDA of $199 million on revenue of $4.1 billion, up from $163 million on $3.039 billion in the year-earlier first half. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Saputo to consolidate U.S. cheesemaking, shut three plants appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The plant’s 250-odd workers, represented by the Syndicat des salaries de la fromagerie — an arm of Centrale des syndicats democratiques (CSD) — have voted 73 per cent to ratify an agreement in principle with the company and were to return to work Monday (Aug. 8), the union said in a release Wednesday.

Off the job since June 29, the employees “will gradually return to work next week to clean the plant in order to resume cheese production as soon as possible,” Agropur said in a separate statement Wednesday.

Producteurs de lait du Quebec president Daniel Gobeil on July 22 had written to the company, reiterating the dairy farmer group’s request for at least a minimal level of processing work to continue at the facility, to prevent milk waste.

Quebec media reports put the Granby plant’s processing capacity at about 800,000 litres per day.

The Granby plant will now start receiving milk “in the coming weeks,” Agropur said Wednesday, which “will help ensure the supply of our customers and avoid further food waste.”

Agropur said it “believes that it has reached an agreement with the employees that will ensure stability for the coming years.”

The new collective agreement expires July 23, 2026, the union said.

“If we have reached an agreement that suits our members, it is because they have remained united throughout the conflict,” CSD counsel Bernard Cournoyer said in the union’s release.

The deal includes increases of between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent in annual worker salaries, increased RRSP contributions from the company and concessions on allowances and advances due to disability-related absences, and on choosing vacation days, the union said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Agropur cheese plant workers take deal, halt strike appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Montreal-based Saputo announced Monday it has an all-cash deal in place to buy Wensleydale Dairy Products Ltd. for 23 million pounds (about C$39.7 million).

Pending U.K. regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to close in the second half of this month, after which Wensleydale, which has about 210 employees at two North Yorkshire plants, would join Saputo’s U.K. dairy division as part of its Europe sector.

Saputo said the Wensleydale product line, which is exported worldwide, “will complement and broaden the company’s existing range of British cheeses” such as Cathedral City and Davidstow cheddars.

The Wensleydale business sources its milk from 40 North Yorkshire-area farms and uses its own unique cheesemaking starter cultures, Saputo said.

Wensleydale “is home to an immense amount of passion, care, and tradition,” Saputo CEO Lino Saputo said in Monday’s release.

Wensleydale was awarded Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status by the European Commission in late 2013 “to protect the authenticity of its Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese,” the British company noted.

European PGI status recognizes the “distinctive qualities” of the cheese as well as the geographical area in which the cheese is made, “in its rightful home of Wensleydale,” the company said last month.

Last month, the company noted it would also seek status for Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese under the recently introduced U.K. geographical indication (GI) schemes to “help shoppers differentiate it over other Wensleydale cheeses, made in other counties.”

“Our creamy, crumbly iconic Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese is extremely important to us and something we are proud to protect. It is important for us and our loyal customers that it is handcrafted here in its rightful home of Wensleydale,” Sandra Bell, the British company’s marketing manager, said in a release at the time.

“The GI schemes and logos are essential to differentiating unique British brands on-shelf, ensuring we continue to protect the authentic heritage and provenance of handcrafted Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Saputo to buy British cheesemaker Wensleydale appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

DFC and Toronto-based, TSX-traded Pizza Pizza — which as of March 31 included 622 Pizza Pizza and 103 Pizza 73 outlets across eight provinces — announced Thursday the company will showcase DFC’s Blue Cow in select Pizza Pizza marketing campaigns nationwide.

The Blue Cow logo rollout began in Ontario this spring and will spread across all Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73 locations throughout Canada later this year, DFC said.

Upgraded to its current form in 2016, the Blue Cow is DFC’s symbol certifying products as made with 100 per cent Canadian milk and milk ingredients.

In this case, DFC said Thursday, the Blue Cow “assures Pizza Pizza’s customers that the mozzarella cheese topping they know and love is made with 100 per cent Canadian milk.”

The logo has been displayed on product labels and in campaigns by processors such as Agropur, Lactalis, Gay Lea, Organic Meadow, Fairlife and Bothwell Cheese, as well as by fast food chains such as McDonald’s Canada in a soft-serve ice cream campaign last summer.

In all, DFC said, the logo has been used by over 500 licensees, including about “three dozen” restaurant chains, on about 8,600 products.

“DFC looks forward to partnering with Pizza Pizza as it expands across the country, further supporting our commitments behind the Blue Cow that have made it one of Canada’s most trusted brands,” DFC president Pierre Lampron said in a release.

The logo, he noted, is recognized by “no fewer than nine out of 10” Canadians.

“Customers know the Blue Cow and now they can support Canadian farmers by grabbing a slice of their favourite pizza,” Adrian Fuoco, vice-president of marketing for Pizza Pizza Ltd., said in the same release.

Pizza Pizza, he said, is “a homegrown success story, enriching the livelihoods of over 700 local franchisees, and the Blue Cow reaffirms our strong ties to hardworking Canadian farmers and small business owners.”

The chain in recent years has built up backstories for several of its products and ingredients, billing its chicken products as coming from birds raised without antibiotics and fed all-vegetable-grain diets, and pizza dough made with 100 per cent Canadian wheat. It also committed itself to source egg ingredients from “100 per cent cage-free sources” by 2025.

The chain has also launched new products such as plant-based protein toppings and crust options such as a cauliflower-based crust and an “Uncrust” for keto dieters.

‘Food preparation’

The Canadian chain’s cheese sourcing hasn’t always been Blue Cow-grade, however.

Eight years ago, it was a sore spot with DFC and Canada’s provincial milk marketing boards, when the chain was found to be importing pre-packaged pizza topping kits combining shredded mozzarella and sliced pepperoni from the U.S.

The pizza kits at that time were classified for tariff purposes as a “food preparation” and thus weren’t subject to the tariff rate quotas (TRQs) imposed on dairy imports under Canada’s supply-managed dairy marketing system.

The dairy organizations at the time criticized the chain’s actions as “a blatant example of circumvention of the government’s tariff system” on cheese imports.

DFC and the provincial boards in 2013 tried to challenge the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) classification of the pizza kits at the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT), but were rejected for lack of standing.

Later that year, the federal government plugged that loophole by requiring that the cheaper U.S. mozzarella in such kits be classified under the tariff lines for fresh cheese, regardless of their packaging.

The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, a longtime critic of Canada’s dairy pricing framework, criticized the federal government at that time for having “suddenly shut down a pizza cheese import process that the courts have twice upheld.”

Deliveries up

In its year-end financials in early March, Pizza Pizza reported overall system sales of about $488.3 million for the year ending Dec. 31, down from $553.5 million in 2019.

Same-store sales growth was down 12.5 per cent in 2020 from 2019 on the pandemic-related loss of walk-in sales and “non-traditional” sales such as those from its kiosks at sports and entertainment venues.

However, the company noted an increase in delivery sales at its Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73 stores alike, which “partially offset this reduction.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Blue Cow comes to Pizza Pizza appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

But the Legal-area farmer says the latest venture is no surprise to anyone who knows him because he thrives on doing things out of the box.

“It’s really fulfilling for me and my wife and my family and to a large degree, a lot of the people who work for us, to have consumers connect — that drove it for us,” he said.

“Consumers want to know farmers. In order to do this, you can’t just go talk to them about what you do. You have to have an in or a base, and it just turns out that’s food.”

Although Nonay grew up on a dairy (his grandfather started it in 1950), it was only when some young people from Quebec came to his farm for a three-month work placement that the idea of making cheese came into his head.

“Their dad had taken his farm in their small town and built La Fromagerie de Presbytere,” said Nonay. “He was making phenomenal cheese.”

Although it would be a totally new type of venture, Nonay had been down that road before.

The decision to get into the beef business came after he built a new dairy barn with robotic milkers in 2010, freeing up some of his work schedule. At that same time, the local abattoir expanded operations and became a provincially inspected facility. So Nonay, who had been raising some beef just for his family’s use, approached a specialty meat shop in St. Albert and later, restaurants and other boutique retailers in the Edmonton area.

He also got into crossbreeding, using Simmental semen (later Wagyu) for some Holsteins.

“Other dairy producers have played with crossbreeding,” he said. “It’s becoming very popular with dairy producers across North America. A lot of that has to do with sexed semen and being able to propagate and get heifers out of your best genetics on the farm.”

The Wagyu/Holstein crosses (with some crosses from other breeds as well) are the base of his beef-breeding program.

“The marbling on the Wagyu/Holstein is a great fit for North America,” said Nonay, adding the Wagyu name tends to grab people’s attention and they’re willing to pay more for it.

The venture also provided lessons about marketing.

“No one wanted Lakeside Dairy beef. Everyone wanted ‘Nonay beef.’ It has to be tied to a name and a face. You just learn these things.”

The success in producing quality beef and selling it gave him confidence, he said.

“I love the idea of high-quality food,” he said. “Our beef was already there, in my opinion, I was already pretty confident that it was a unique product, and it was already branded and easy to do.”

When the idea of making cheese came along, Nonay visited the dairy farm in Quebec making cheese. Then two years ago, he connected with cheese maker Ian Treuer and a business plan started to come together.

“We were branding beef and selling it to small boutiques, restaurants and retailers in Alberta,” said Nonay. “It worked well enough for us to take a giant leap into a processing plant and cheese making and employing a lot of people.”

In the fall of 2019, the Nonays broke ground on their processing plant and in September, Lakeside Farmstead Cheese made its first batch. There are now several varieties, including a spreadable cream cheese replacement called Fromage Blanc, brine cheeses, brie and an earthy, smoky cheddar created by soaking curds in a tea made from chaga mushrooms.

“The biggest surprise is how many curds we sell and how many people like curds.”

Lakeside Dairy produces about 5,000 litres of milk a day, and the cheesery makes three batches weekly (a full batch uses about 2,500 litres of milk, which is enough to produce about 250 kilograms of cheese).

The response has not only been very positive on the customer side, but also when it comes to hiring workers.

“We haven’t put out any ads for any employees,” said Nonay. “All of our hires heard about it on social media, and just think it’s cool. And all are people who expressed interest and want to be part of what we’re doing.

“It’s really cool for a small community and a small town to have that.”

Ditto for Nonay himself.

“It’s not always about how much money I can make,” he said. “One day, I’ll be sitting in a rocking chair looking back, and this is one of the coolest things I could do with my opportunity.”

The post One thing always leads to another on this multi-faceted Alberta farm appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The Canadian arm of Amsterdam-based Upfield said Wednesday it has bought a 164,000-square foot industrial building at Brantford and “brings a significant investment involving the purchase of land, infrastructure improvements and equipment.”

Upfield, which formed in 2018 when consumer goods giant Unilever spun off its worldwide spreads business, now bills itself as the largest plant-based consumer products company in the world.

The Violife plant-based cheese substitute brand came to Upfield in January, when it closed a deal to take over Greek plant-based and dairy-free processor Arivia.

Upfield said Wednesday it will expand its operations onto the 17.4-acre Brantford property — while ending operations at its current Toronto processing site, at Etobicoke.

The company, which has 86 employees at Etobicoke, said it “looks forward to welcoming members of its existing workforce to Brantford,” where it also expects to generate “additional employment opportunities” between next year and 2023.

The new plant, which Upfield expects to have “fully operational” by the end of 2021, will include improvements to support the company’s expanding spreads and margarine product portfolio.

Upfield said it also plans to set up a “scaled-up manufacturing platform” that will support “new innovations” such as Violife as well as the Becel line and other spreads.

Upfield Canada president Dan Bajor, in a release Wednesday, said the Brantford expansion is part of a plan to build up its space in the plant-based foods business in Canada — and that includes introducing the Violife line in this country.

The Brantford plant, he added, will supply the Canadian consumer market but also will “support the export of Violife to the United States and eventually to markets in Latin America.”

Upfield’s Becel product lines in Canada are made with canola and sunflower oil as well as palm oil and soy extracts. Its non-vegan line includes small amounts of buttermilk, while its plant-based butter substitutes include pea protein.

Its Violife line, meanwhile, is coconut oil-based. It includes cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan and feta-flavoured products for use as non-dairy substitutes in pizza, sandwiches and other food items. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Becel maker Upfield to relocate Ontario plant appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

After weak sales results and several billion-dollar writedowns over the past two years, there has been market speculation about which categories Kraft Heinz will offload from its balance sheet. The company has reportedly also looked for buyers for its Maxwell House coffee business and Ore-Ida frozen potatoes brand.

Tuesday’s deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2021, includes Kraft Heinz’s U.S. natural, grated, cultured and specialty cheese businesses — including its Breakstone’s and Cracker Barrel brands — and its grated cheese business in Canada. Kraft Heinz is also selling its international cheese unit outside of Canada and the U.S.

The Chicago-based company will retain its Philadelphia, Kraft Singles, Velveeta and Cheez Whiz brands in the U.S. and Canada. It will also keep the Kraft, Velveeta and Cracker Barrel Mac + Cheese businesses worldwide.

A banking source not involved in the deal said the shredded cheese business in the United States would likely be attractive to Lactalis, as it is “extraordinarily profitable.”

“Buying pre-shredded cheese is like giving money away,” the source said.

Lactalis, which took over Parmalat in 2011, already sells Cracker Barrel cheese in Canada, along with brands such as Black Diamond, Balderson, Amooza, P’tit Quebec, Galbani and President.

— Reporting for Reuters by Richa Naidu in Chicago and Martinne Geller in London. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

The post Kraft Heinz to sell several cheese businesses to Lactalis appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

But when the pandemic struck, it proved to be a lifeline.

The couple emigrated from the Netherlands in 1994 and began milking cows in 2000. They took over Crystal Springs Cheese in 2005, moving the business from Bluffton to a location just north of Lethbridge.

“We started making feta and Gouda and we did that for the longest time,” said Jacco Beyer, one of the couple’s sons, who is the production manager for the operation.

Feta continues to be their main product by volume but after acquiring Bles-Wold yogurt brand from its Lacombe owners in 2018, the family began selling both yogurt and cheese curds at grocery and specialty stores across the province.

It proved to be a pivotal decision — but in a way they never expected.

“When people stopped going to restaurants, dairy consumables at the retail level went up 25 to 30 per cent,” said Beyer. “Those products (curds and yogurt) do better for us than bulk wholesale. So while we saw a large shrink in volume with the wholesale, we also saw a large increase in the retail.”

And it wasn’t just the sales that boosted the company’s fortunes. The yogurt coolers in grocery stores are dominated by the big players who not only offer cheap prices but can pay for prominent shelf space, shunting the little guys to one side.

But that didn’t count for much when panic buying saw shelves stripped bare. The key became how quickly you could deliver new product to stores, and Crystal Springs was able to do that.

“I think we were able to restock a little faster than some of the yogurts that were coming from out east,” said Beyer.

“We got a little bit of a boost that way. Some people who might not have bought our product just bought it because the other yogurt was gone. And then it stuck because our sales picked up and they didn’t drop back down.”

There’s been an even more dramatic surge in sales at their retail store on the family farm, which carries an ever-growing lineup of cheeses, such as cheddar, havarti, Swiss, Asiago, and Monterey Jack. The store has become a local attraction and sales have doubled, said Beyer.

“The store has been very busy. People enjoy shopping there because it’s very easy to social distance. Usually, there’s only one set of people in there at a time. If there are more people, they can wait outside. We do things like grab the cheese from the freezer for them. People really appreciate that.”

The family was initially reluctant to move into retail but are now thankful they did.

“The retail business softened the blow a lot for us. We’re still crawling back up there. A lot of restaurants are still slow,” said Beyer.

“We are grateful for all the support we’ve been getting locally, that’s for sure. It’s also inspired us a lot.”

Because of requests from their customers, they’re making more types of cheeses to launch this fall.

“In the end, we played around with making different kinds of cheeses and making more of the same cheeses that we make so we have more inventory to do launches in the fall,” he said.

Earlier this month, concrete was poured for a new patio, an extension of a café they have at their store.

“It’s a slab of concrete with chairs on it, and people are sitting out there already. They quite enjoy it. They quite enjoy being out in the country.”

And the Beyers are enjoying having people come to their farm.

“We have been having a lot of fun with retail,” he said. “You see reward for your work instead of piling up a lot of boxes and cases.”

Three out of five Beyer siblings are actively involved in the operation, along with their parents.

Crystal Springs Cheese uses about 200,000 to 300,000 litres of milk a month. The family has its own dairy herd, but also sources milk from local farmers.

“We always use our own milk for our yogurt, our own specialty cheese and anything that has our name on it,” said Beyer.

Most of their herd is now producing A2 cows’ milk, which can be consumed by people who have a sensitivity to A1 proteins found in cows’ milk. The milk is used in all yogurt production, as well as Gouda, Swiss and Asiago.

“A2 milk has been around for a while, but it’s relatively new in Canada and there are only a few people doing it,” he said.

Once the family realized the power of the retail world, and how much they could be doing, they hired more staff. At the end of 2018, they had just one part-time office manager and Beyer worked the production floor with two or three assistants. Now there are usually 10 people on the floor, two to three in the office, someone managing the store and someone on the road.

But it’s the connection to customers that has really come to the fore during the pandemic.

“Everyone has been talking about local,” said Beyer.

“The retail market is a really good way to get your product out there. We’ve seen the support that people have for both local products, and farm-based products.”

The post Retail proves a lifeline for Alberta cheese-making family appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Montreal-based Saputo said Thursday it will close the former Riverside Cheese and Butter plant at Trenton, Ont. this September and its Baxter dairy plant at Saint John, N.B. in January next year.

Production at both sites “will be integrated into other Saputo facilities across Canada.”

Announcing the move in its third-quarter results, Saputo said the decision is “aimed at improving its operational efficiency and right-sizing both its manufacturing footprint and sales force in Canada” and is part of its “continual analysis of its overall activities.”

The decision affects about 280 employees in all, some of whom Saputo said would be offered transfers to other plants in its Canadian dairy division, while others will get severance and “outplacement support.”

The Trenton plant came to Saputo when the company bought Trenton-based Italian specialty cheesemaker Riverside Cheese and Butter for $7 million in 1998.

The Saint John operation was absorbed into Saputo in 2001 when the company bought Dairyworld Foods, which had bought local firm Baxter Dairies in 1998. The Baxter brand in Saint John dates back to 1924.

Saputo on Thursday booked net earnings of $197.8 million on $3.891 billion in revenues for the quarter ending Dec. 31, down from $342 million on $3.577 billion in the year-earlier period.

Of its Canadian business, the company said a “competitive Canadian landscape continues to exercise downward pressure on financial performance,” but “market conditions continue to show signs of easing,” offering “an improved outlook for capturing profitable sales volumes.”

Looking ahead, Saputo said Thursday it “will also continue to focus on increasing its operational efficiency” in its Canadian dairy arm through cost-cutting as well as “strategic investments to mitigate low growth and consistently high warehousing, logistics and transportation costs.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Saputo to shut two dairy plants in East appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said its “Section 301” investigation found that the French tax was “inconsistent with prevailing principles of international tax policy, and is unusually burdensome for affected U.S. companies,” including Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.com.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the government was exploring whether to open similar investigations into the digital services taxes of Austria, Italy and Turkey.

“The USTR is focused on countering the growing protectionism of EU member states, which unfairly targets U.S. companies,” Lighthizer said. His statement made no mention of proposed digital taxes in Canada or Britain.

The U.S. trade agency said it would collect public comments through Jan. 14 on its proposed tariff list as well as the option of imposing fees or restrictions on French services, with a public hearing scheduled for Jan. 7.

It did not specify an effective date for the proposed 100 per cent duties.

Champagne, Rouge, Gruyere

The list targets some products that were spared from 25 per cent tariffs imposed by the United States over disputed European Union aircraft subsidies, including sparkling wines, handbags and makeup preparations — products that would hit French luxury goods giant LVMH and cosmetics maker L’Oreal hard.

Gruyere cheese, also spared from the USTR aircraft tariffs levied in October, featured prominently in the list of French products targeted for 100 per cent duties, along with numerous other cheeses.

The findings won favour from U.S. lawmakers and U.S. tech industry groups, who have long argued that the tax unfairly targets U.S firms.

“The French digital services tax is unreasonable, protectionist and discriminatory,” Senators Charles Grassley and Ron Wyden, the top Republican and Democrat, respectively, on the Senate finance committee, said in a joint statement.

Spokespeople for the French embassy and the European Union delegation in Washington could not immediately be reached for comment.

But prior to the release of the USTR’s report, a French official said that France would dispute the trade agency’s findings, repeating Paris’ contention that the digital tax is not aimed specifically at U.S. technology companies.

“We will not give up on taxation” of digital firms, the official said.

France’s three per cent levy applies to revenue from digital services earned by firms with more than 25 million euros (US$27.86 million) in French revenue and 750 million euros (US$830 million) worldwide.

The USTR’s report and proposed tariff list follow months of negotiations between French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over a global overhaul of digital tax rules.

The two struck a compromise in August at a G7 summit in France that would refund U.S. firms the difference between the French tax and a new mechanism being drawn up through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

But Trump never formally endorsed that deal and declined to say whether his French tariff threat was off the table.

— Reporting for Reuters by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder.

The post U.S. vows 100 per cent tariffs on France’s champagne, cheese over digital tax appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.