The Canadian Dairy Commission is set to unveil the prices that will be in place for milk products next year, along with a detailed look at the increase in their cost of doing business.
The crown corporation, which oversees Canada’s supply managed dairy system, will be announcing what’s known as the “farm gate milk price” for 2023. In Canada, the dairy industry operates under what’s known as a supply management system, where the prices that producers get for things like milk, cream, yogurt and cheeses are set at a level that ensures production and sustainability for the industry.
Prices can vary at the retail level, but one of the effects of supply management is to set a baseline price that farmers can expect for their basic product when it leaves the farm.
The group raised the farm gate price by 8.4 per cent in February, just as inflation was walloping every part of Canada’s economy. The group then took the almost unprecedented step of raising prices a second time in the same year, by another 2.5 per cent, starting Sept. 1.
Given current consumer awareness and outrage over food prices, the dairy group says it plans to present updated cost of production data that it says will explain why it made the decision it did on prices.
