Trans-Pacific Partnership worries Essex County dairy farmers

Essex County dairy farmers discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal with Essex Liberal candidate Audrey Festeryga in Kingsville Tuesday.

The farmers wanted to hear her party's take on the proposed deal.

At the meeting Tuesday, Festeryga, who grew up on a farm, said Liberals feel it's important to support supply management.

She said she supports free trade, but also said supply management is "a pillar of our agricultural history." She said the supply management system "has worked very, very well."

There are 11 dairy farms with fewer than a combined 1,000 milking cows  in Essex County, where 25,000 litres of milk is produced every day.

The local farmers are worried the TPP will open the Canadian market to imported milk, undercutting the domestically produced dairy products.

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Farmers asking for guarantees 

Roger Wright, a third-generation dairy farmer from Amherstburg, is worried whether dairy importers will follow Canadian quality standards.

"I'm not worried about the quality of our milk. I'm worried about the quality of milk coming in from other countries," Wright said. "Our question is, 'Are [importers] going to be kept to that standard if their products do come into the market? Nobody seems to be able to answer it right now." 

"We've been encouraged to put out the highest quality that we could and that's what we're trying to do," Wright said.

We would never be able to compete with their producers.- Mark Stannard

Government subsidies are another concern, especially in the United States. 

Unlike Canada's system of supply chain management, the U.S. uses direct government subsidies to support dairy farmers. 

"To open up our borders to allow us to trade milk with other countries, there's no way we could compete with our system of supply management," said Mark Stannard, a dairy farmer from Kingsville. 

"We would never be able to compete with their producers. When their product falls below a certain level, they're compensated by their government. We are not," Stannard said.

Mark Balkwill, a fellow dairy farmer in Kingsville, said the TPP could put some dairy farmers out of business.

Balkwill alleges 10 per cent of the dairy market is going to be opened up to product from outside of the country.

"One of the things that concerns the dairy farmers and a lot of people in Canada is the quality issues, where our quality is extremely high here, and all milk is tested," Balkwill said. "There's no hormones. There's no additives. There's no drugs or anything in our milk, and we're not sure that that's going to happen from countries other than our own."

Dairy farmers fear that 10 per cent less domestic milk would destabilize the supply chain and potentially increase the consumer price of domestically processed dairy, if fixed costs remain the same with lower volumes. Alternatively, local plants may close.

Tories 'committed to supply management'

The Conservative government denies the claim 10 per cent of the market will be opened up. It also says Canadians don't need to worry about the safety or quality of dairy products.

Late Saturday, Trade Minister Ed Fast, who has been campaigning for the Oct. 19 federal election, issued a release denying reports that Canada will make dairy sector concessions at the talks, calling them "absolutely false."

"Our government remains committed to defending our system of supply management," he said in the release, adding that Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has made clear that he will only sign an agreement that's in Canada's best interests."

Fast will be in Atlanta on Wednesday for what may be the final round of TPP negotiations.

After meeting with Festeryga, Balkwill says Essex County farmers will also meet with their regional representative Wednesday night to discuss the issue.

Up Highway 401 on Tuesday, the Oxford County Federation of Agriculture will gather at the Woodstock office of Conservative incumbent Dave MacKenzie to ask that he "preserve the integrity of our supply management sectors."

"Our goal is simply to be seen and heard as a strong and united sector," The Oxford County Federation of Agriculture said in a news release. "Although we're faced uncertainty as Trans-Pacific Partnership talks expect to be finalized in the next week, we trust that the best interests of both consumers and producers are being upheld."