Since no one asked, I’m going to do a thread on the Canadian dairy Supply Management discussion. I don’t think SM should end because it would take fetters off and put more milk on the world market.
1. Quality: Canadians have told consumers that US milk is toxic. Every province milk board has an article about how CND milk has no hormones like the US and also doesn’t have antibiotics, using slight of hand to infer a poor quality US product.
2. Price: Every study the milk board has done shows milk price is the same, shocking. You can’t take a product purchased at a $14 raw price, refine it and bring it to market cheaper than a raw price at $28.
3. Class 7: This animosity didn’t start until Canada decided to put excess product on the market instead of dumping excess like a good monopoly. Dumping Skim Milk Powder on the world market and messing up other countries sales, while keeping SM borders on WTO violations
4. Consumers: Having a monopoly that is backed by the government is unheard of. This discussion will shift consumer sentiment as they see CND farmers farming like Powerball winners, while they struggle to make ends meet.
5. Sugar: The US protects the Sugar industry and it is a republican abomination particularly with @marcorubio supporting. The US sugar industry is not however, dumping its excess into other countries and messing up those countries local producers.
6. Economics: If Monopolies/Quotas are the only way to survive we should embrace them in every industry. Let’s limit beef, hogs, plumbers and framers. Free markets are designed to work for the benefit of consumers. Quota creates fat and inefficiencies.
7. Environmental: Having larger farming units result in efficiencies, less feed trucks and milk trucks on the road. Less area needed to produce the same units of production.
8. Bailout: With a paper asset of $270,000,000 who pays the bill? Banks financing 100% of operations are not surprisingly the biggest proponents of quota. Ultimately if/when it ends, the tax payer will bail it out.
9. Post Quota: There are a lot of amazing US and CND dairy farmers, and no quota would result in many exiting as they aren’t efficient. The survivors will have paid down debt, and gotten bigger and more efficient.
10. Prediction: All is fair in love, war and trade negotiations. My guess is that Canada is asked to give up their class 7 export and SM survives. At some point a free market conservative will acquiesce to a population that gets weary of treating dairy and poultry differently.
Thanks everyone! I’m out...
