AN OVERVIEW OF DFC’S 2023 ANNUAL POLICY CONFERENCE

On March 20th, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) hosted its 2023 Annual Policy Conference, bringing together dairy farmers from across the country to discuss key issues and opportunities for our sector.

Here is a snapshot of key discussions held:

Agri-food one of Canada’s most ‘promising’ sectors, but Canada needs long-term strategy

Speaking with Dairy Farmers of Canada CEO Jacques Lefebvre, economic analyst Robert Asselin said Canada needs a modern industrial policy that targets support for high-potential sectors like agriculture to secure future economic growth in an increasingly technology-driven world.

A former federal government adviser, Asselin is currently senior vice-president, policy, at the Business Council of Canada and a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.

Asked if, six years on, the agri-food sector had lived up to potential identified in a 2017 federal government-commissioned economic study known as the Barton report, Asselin said not enough progress has been made.

“Agri-food is one of the most promising sectors in the country. But we’ll have to be much better at it than we are,” he said. “We’re going to have to invest more in R&D, we’re going to have to scale our businesses, we’re going to have to adopt more technology at scale.”

Global demand for milk is growing despite talk of a decline in the dairy sector

Torsten Hemme, founder of IFCN Dairy Research Network, offered conference attendees a snapshot of the international and Canadian market trends and outlooks along with Annie AcMoody, DFC’s vicepresident for policy and trade.

Hemme said by the end of this decade, the world’s dairy farmers will need to produce about 21 per cent more milk to keep up with growing demand. That increase would be equivalent to about two times the amount of milk the U.S. now produces.

Providing a domestic outlook, AcMoody said while retail sales of dairy products were down last year, there was an impressive year-over-year bounce toward the end of 2022 in sales of all dairy products in non-retail outlets such as restaurants, hotels and institutions.

New informative guide is next step to achieve Net Zero by 2050

Canadian dairy farmers have a new toolkit to help them green their operations with the release

The release of DFC’s Net Zero by 2050 Best Management Practices

Guide to Mitigate Emissions on Dairy Farms was the highlight of this year’s Annual Policy Conference. The detailed, practical guide will help Canadian dairy farmers reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.

Developed in consultation with experts to identify and implement best management practices (BMP) on dairy farms, the guide includes an overview of 30 BMP opportunities for reducing emissions, increasing carbon sequestration and improving overall environmental sustainability.

The guide is available for download on our new Farmer Resources portal at dairyfarmersofcanada.ca/en/farmerresources (and in French at producteurslaitiersducanada.ca/fr/ ressources-producteurs).