The Milk Producer - February 2012 - (Page 4)

EDITOR’SNOTES By Bill Dimmick Our inadvertent ally As U.S. dairy leaders warn against trade deals with New Zealand, Canada stands to beneﬁt friends and neighbours south of the 49th parallel. That’s who. Their concerns could inadvertently make them our allies in trade negotiations. Canadian dairy farmers—and our federal and provincial governments—continue to defend our milk marketing system. Meanwhile, the U.S. National Milk Producers Federation is warning Washington officials once again to keep dairy out of any trade deals with New Zealand. In January, Jerry Kozak, the NMPF’s president and chief operating officer, reminded U.S. producers of the organization’s long-standing objection in his column, posted monthly on the NMPF website. Roughly the U.S. equivalent of Dairy Farmers of Canada, the organization has been warning about dairy trade with New Zealand for years, he noted. He referred readers to his October 2008 column, entitled A wolf in sheep’s clothing. He wrote then about how the NMPF was going to have to work hard to keep dairy out of a looming free trade agreement between the U.S. and New Zealand. As it turns out, the U.S. dairy lobby successfully did just that. Both the January 2012 and October 2008 columns referenced the Trans Pacific Partnership, an ongoing multi-nation trade negotiation. New Zealand is one of the countries involved. The U.S. invited Canada to join the TPP last fall, touching off a spate of anti-supply-management media articles here at home. THE I PRO U R TH E MI LK PRODUCER is published monthly RODU e m nthl hly by Dairy Farmers of Ontar o, 6780 Campobello Dai Farmers of Onta airy r tari b Road Mississauga, Ontario, Road, Mississauga, Ontar L5N 2L8 ad, ssis a t EDITOR: ill D m ick EDITOR: Bill Dimmick ITOR ASSISTAN EDIT R ASSISTANT EDITOR: Sharon Laidlaw SISTANT ITOR ai law Co-ordinated by Communications Co-ordinated by Co -ordinat s and Planning Div and Planning Di ision, n Bill itch Bill Mitch Assi tant Director. chell, ssis Chan Chan of address notices should be sent to: ange u be sent to: THE MILK PRODUCER 6780 Campobello Road, Mississauga, Ontario L5N 2L8. s 8 Subsc pt Subscription rate : $26.88 for one year, $49.28 bscr ates ye $49.28 ear, 9 for two years and $67.20 for three years in o w year n r e yea in ears Canada (includes HST), $36 per year in the nada (includes l s U.S. $36 per year overseas. Single copy: $2.50. U.S., $36 per year overs S., r vers Make cheques payab Make cheques payable to Dairy Farmers of heque able iry ir Ontario. Ontario. tari W In 2008, Kozak wrote about keeping dairy out of any TPP deal as well as keeping it out of the free trade agreement between the U.S. and New Zealand. He described the TPP as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing (while New Zealand may be famously known as two pastoral islands adept at lamb and wool production, the big, bad wolf looming underneath is their very aggressive dairy industry).” He argued New Zealand would have an unfair advantage: “What it (TPP) would create is an agreement with one company, Fonterra, which controls 95 per cent of New Zealand’s considerable dairy exports. Fonterra, a dairy giant that arose from the ashes of the New Zealand Dairy Board, has a unique role as a state-sanctioned trading enterprise with global reach and enormous clout. No other business in any of the countries involved in the TPP would receive the singular benefit from the agreement that it would.” In 2012, the NMPF has yet to let down its guard about letting New Zealand use the TPP to gain access to the U.S. domestic dairy market. If Canada does join the TPP negotiations, let’s hope the NMPF succeeds in its quest to keep dairy out of any deal. It would make the job of defending Canadian supply managment much easier for our federal government. Canada Post Publications Mail Sales Product d tions Mai Sale P oduc a e uct Agreement No. 40063866. Return postage 0063 66. Retu postage 3866 turn o 38 guaranteed. Circulation: 10,000. io 0,000 o 000. ISSN 0030-3038. SS Prin Print d in Canada. inte n nada. a National Nation Marketing Manager tion eting Manager ana James Fitz James Fitzgerald tzg 154 Jean 154 Jean Street, n RR 5, Strat ord, Ontario N5A 6S6 5, Stra ratf Toll-fre Toll-free advertisers only: 1-888-460-6212 ll-free Phone (519) 393-5292 Fax (519) 393-5293 5292 52 51 29 E-m E-mail: milkjim47@quadro.net @quadro n ro.n Opinions expressed herein are those of the ed herein are thos f the erei hose author and/or editor and do not necessarily ditor and not necessarily e aril reﬂect the opinion or policies of Dairy Farmers n or policies of Dair Farmers lici iry of of Ontario. Publication of advertisements does P lication dvert sements does erti ment not constitute endor stitu ndor tute orsement or approval by The or t The Milk Producer or Dairy Farmers of Ontario of f products or services advertised. The Milk Producer welcomes letters to the i oduce cer comes et e editor about magazine content. bout g bo maga ine content. t t. Phone: (905) 821-8970 ( 0 821-8970 1-89 Fax: (905) 821-3160 (905) 821-3160 1-31 E-mail: bdimmick@milk.org bdimmick milk. immick@m k.o slaidlaw@mil or slaidlaw@milk.org w ilk org Website: Go to publications o at www.milk.org 4 | February 2012 | MilkPRODUCER http://www.fsc.org http://www.milk.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Milk Producer - February 2012

The Milk Producer - February 2012
Contents
Editor's Notes
DFO Chair's Message
Dairy Update
Industry Roundup
DFC Promotion
Research
Ruminations
Alternative Energy
Calf Health
Markets
New 'N' Noted
Back Forty

The Milk Producer - February 2012