Page 10 - BCHNews-WCDN1224-Web

10 WC DAIRY NEWS  CHRISTMAS 2024
Retail Dairy Demand and Processor Capacity Upswing
But COP still causing friction
Tars Cheema
While this year ’s BC Dairy Industry
Conference certainly showed signs of
optimism amid the recent news of more
quota allocation beginning in the new year,
coupled with ongoing incentive days, the
mood was less jubilant with the dogged
challenges of cost of production in BC
unresolved.
This year ’s Conference emphasized
producer sessions with Q & A time and
fewer large keynote presentations.
BC Dairy Chair Casey Pruim opened
the Wednesday afternoon session
acknowledging the significant difficulties
of the past year, following immediately
with reasons for optimism – stabilization
of input prices, eased interest rates, quota
allocations and incentive days.
“Processors are investing and the market
is growing – it’s our responsibility to
supply the market,” he framed the current
situation. He continued to focus on the
opportunities he sees ahead, capturable
by the proactive efforts of producers.
“Our collective effort is what makes our
industry resilient,” he encouraged.
Director Lindsay Heer from the Bulkley
Valley has chaired the Governance
committee for the past two years as it
worked through the necessary revisions
to bylaws. Consultations were undertaken
at regional producer meetings and they
examined other governance models in the
immediate industry.
External BC Issues
BC Dairy rep on DFC, replacing David
Taylor, Sarah Sache shared the extensive
work done to review and define DFC’s
‘Vision, Mission, Values and Mandate.’
The new Mission as proposed states:
“Support the growth of the Canadian dairy
farming industry through innovative and
sustainable production and advocate for
the benefits of the Canadian industry.”
Another piece of the puzzle is defining
DFC’s mandate in Marketing – and the
potential for overlap/duplication across
the regions. The review process is
expected to conclude in 2025.
Funding for DFC and DIDC (Dairy Industry
Development Council) was discussed in
light of the industry’s financial pressures.
In 2024, BC’s funding for various DFC
initiatives came to $4.76M. In 2025,
the presentation stated: “BC Dairy is
committed to contributing our fair share
but will not provide funding that exceeds
what is proportionate to the contribution
of other provinces.”
Mark Van Klei handled the discussion
regarding the BC Cost of Production issue.
With 10% of producers exiting the industry
last year, BC shouldered a disproportionate
share of the loss, he stated. The COP
issue has caught the attention of the
CDC whose entire Board was attending
this meeting. Mark described the
collaboration with KPMG and MNP to
collect standardized dairy data for a quality
regional COP analysis. “A statistically
sound and robust COP study is needed
to clarify the real costs and present a
defensible position,” Mark summarized.
The Panel
A panel of 10 senior staff from BC Milk and
BC Dairy took questions from the producer
audience in a move to improve information
access and transparency. Zahra from the
Milk Board stated that the province risks
losing quota if too many producers fail to
produce the requirement – production will
be moved to where it can be filled.
Milk Board CEO Rob Delage explained
that seven years ago there was very
serious concern about limited processing
capacity. Investments in capacity have
been made and there is an obligation
to produce the milk. “The new quota
allocations are to fill existing processing
capacity – more processing capacity is
coming online soon,” he explained.
Special Recognitions
Riverwater Farm was recognized as BC’s
Top Quality milk producer for the 2023-
2024 dairy year. Joe and Trudy Wikkerink,
together with sons Dan and Albert, farm in
Duncan on Vancouver Island. Riverwater
Farm has been a top quality contender
on Vancouver Island many times (picture
on page 26).
BC Dairy Chair Casey Pruim set
the tone for BC’s dairy industry
conference, acknowledging the
cost of production realities while
also expressing enthusiasm for
the growing market.
Top Manitoba milk quality producer
and DFC President, David Wiens,
stressed the importance of unity
as the industry considers trade
challenges in the future.
Any BC producer can participate in
the study, as long as they meet the
standardized data methods. In the
meantime, Mark closed saying, “The
future looks bright – we’re going to need
a lot more milk and we have an obligation
to fill the market.”
Consumer Trends
Jennifer Woron, BC Dairy’s Director of
Market Development, presented a peek
into the retail market factors influencing
current trends. While trends in recent
years have shown steady loss of fluid milk
consumption, it has recently reversed with
a 2.3% increase across the west – driven
primarily with an increase of 8% (lactose
free milk) and +28.8% increase in protein-
enriched ultrafiltered milk. Coincidentally,
the plant-based competitors have seen a
shrinkage of 4%.
Jennifer pointed to factors like the
population growth from south Asian,
Filipino and Chinese ethnicities. Saputo
has put a focus on marketing lactose-
free milk to the Chinese market. “Ethnic
considerations are important,” she
emphasized. Younger demographics are
perhaps responsible for the increase in
cottage cheese consumption purportedly
influenced by ‘Tik Tok’ momentum.
Younger consumers are influencing the
rise in protein-driven dairy consumption,
especially protein-enriched milk.
Young Farmer Panel. (L-R) Kevin Mammel, Rebecca Senicar, Russell
Reitsma and moderator, Kevin Lim.
Board Recognitions
Three BC Dairy Board members were
recognized for their past service – Ken
Miller, John Kerkhoven and Holger
Schwichtenberg. John, who had served
nine years, many as Treasurer, offered his
thanks to producers for the opportunity
to serve. “I learned so much about local,
provincial and national politics,” he
admitted. He also gave a shout-out to
industry leaders Henry Holtmann, David
Janssens, David Wiens and others for
leading the industry amid challenging
times. He further presented a brief speech
from former BC Dairy Chair, Holger,
who was provided a monetary gift of
appreciation from the Dairy Association.
“Through your gift, I am able to support a
project near and dear to my heart, and that
is the Hope Slough Restoration Project. I’d
like to take this opportunity to give a big
shout out and thank-you to BCDA staff
present and past, for all their hard work,
dedication, and commitment to the work
BCDA undertakes in this province. It was
a pleasure working with all of you. In my
time as a BCDA member, I was privileged
to meet, learn from, and promote dairy
initiatives to fellow producers from across
the country. It was a very memorable and
rewarding time.” – Holger Schwichtenberg.
The Big Day
The following morning, Casey welcomed the
much larger audience to the Conference,
with an appropriate reference to the difficult
year and recognition of the ongoing cost of
production challenges. He highlighted other
BC Dairy activities in the past year, including
different workshops and info-sessions
on proAction. “Managing water is another
critical issue and we are ensuring dairy
farmers have a seat at the table,” Casey
affirmed. He continued to emphasize the
strong collaboration with processors and
the focus on market development, such as
the ethnic segment and school programs.
Other speakers included DFC President
David Wiens, newly returned Minister
of Agriculture Lana Popham, Dan Wong
of the Western Dairy Council, Haig
Poutchigian CEO of Saputo, Chef Ned
Bell and Guy Froment of Lactalis (newly
elected President of the International Dairy
Federation). The afternoon consisted of
Mark Futcher Director of Sales DeLaval
Canada, a young farmer panel and wrapped
up with two political commentators who
were far more engaging than one might
expect.
We look forward to bringing you more
reports on these presenters in the Winter
issue of WC Dairy News in February.