Should we revisit our Dairy Supply Management System?

[Jflem1983]

School teachers could all be replaced by computer screens tomorrow. Dairy farmers have more shelf life

[Omnitheo]

60% above average wage may seem a lot, but when you consider the percentage above average wage that some in the oil industry make, or doctors, or many other professions, then it’s really not very much.

That said, I certainly don’t think dairy farmers should be paid more than school teachers...

Well, knowing that teachers have no were near the overhead cost of running a dairy farm i.e replacement of a tractor alone comes to mind + equipment just in milking parlour, fuel costs, employees etc... etc

In your previous post though you refer to mass factory farms. Where many of the dairy farmers are not personally purchasing a Combine, or individual equipment, but are rather working for a company that does. In that regard, the schools could be considered companies, aside from the fact that the individual teachers are often expected to purchase school supplies for their students out of their own paychecks. Remember the 60% was talking about average pay, vs other canadians. On that note. what is the average take-home of a teacher vs other canadian's paychecks? Or Oil Field worker, or Doctor (all occupations which are either government paid or partly subsidized). And what is the better model?

After a little investigation:

In Alberta, teachers make $99,300 on average and B.C. teachers make about $81,500

It shows that the median family income in Canada is $76,000 — generally higher in the west than the east — while the median individual income is just $27,600. That means just as many individuals earn less than $27,600 as earn more. The richest 10 per cent of individuals are making more than $80,400

So teachers are above the average, somewhat, and quite high above the median, but still not to the same level of an average Dairy worker. Should the average dairy worker carry the burden of the overhead, then perhaps the current model is rather fair for them, as they are putting in a lot of work, requiring a lot of expense, and unlike in the US, not committing suicide because they've overproduced, dumped a bunch of product, and are unable to recoup their operating costs, or make enough for their lifelong career to continue sustaining them.

[GordonH]

60% above average wage may seem a lot, but when you consider the percentage above average wage that some in the oil industry make, or doctors, or many other professions, then it’s really not very much.
That said, I certainly don’t think dairy farmers should be paid more than school teachers...

Well, knowing that teachers have no were near the overhead cost of running a dairy farm i.e replacement of a tractor alone comes to mind + equipment just in milking parlour, fuel costs, employees etc... etc

In your previous post though you refer to mass factory farms. Where many of the dairy farmers are not personally purchasing a Combine, or individual equipment, but are rather working for a company that does. In that regard, the schools could be considered companies, aside from the fact that the individual teachers are often expected to purchase school supplies for their students out of their own paychecks. Remember the 60% was talking about average pay, vs other canadians. On that note. what is the average take-home of a teacher vs other canadian's paychecks? Or Oil Field worker, or Doctor (all occupations which are either government paid or partly subsidized). And what is the better model?

After a little investigation:

In Alberta, teachers make $99,300 on average and B.C. teachers make about $81,500

It shows that the median family income in Canada is $76,000 — generally higher in the west than the east — while the median individual income is just $27,600. That means just as many individuals earn less than $27,600 as earn more. The richest 10 per cent of individuals are making more than $80,400

So teachers are above the average, somewhat, and quite high above the median, but still not to the same level of an average Dairy worker. Should the average dairy worker carry the burden of the overhead, then perhaps the current model is rather fair for them, as they are putting in a lot of work, requiring a lot of expense, and unlike in the US, not committing suicide because they've overproduced, dumped a bunch of product, and are unable to recoup their operating costs, or make enough for their lifelong career to continue sustaining them.

I don't consider those industrial farms to be run by farmers, it is a corporation.
What I consider as farmer is the family farm.

[GordonH]

Unfortunately the closes I could find about farm income in BC is this here, it breaks it down to 3 ways (plus it is 4 years old).
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en ... B0%5D=1.13

[Omnitheo]

The numbers provided by Merry though make no distinction between family farms and industrial farms. Nor does the system of Supply Management

[GordonH]

The numbers provided by Merry though make no distinction between family farms and industrial farms. Nor does the system of Supply Management

I suspect the corporate farms are the ones guilty causing those numbers to be high.

[Omnitheo]

Unfortunately the closes I could find about farm income in BC is this here, it breaks it down to 3 ways (plus it is 4 years old).
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en ... B0%5D=1.13

Much lower than expected. Especially given the liability. Do we really want to reduce this further? Is this simply a BC thing? are the rates in Ontario and Quebec much different? Of course this is simply animal farms, it makes no distinction between cattle raising and dairy farming. Or even Poultry or fish.

[GordonH]

Unfortunately the closes I could find about farm income in BC is this here, it breaks it down to 3 ways (plus it is 4 years old).
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en ... B0%5D=1.13

Took a look at Quebec they are considerable higher net operating income, make sense since they have larger amount of corporate farms.

[Omnitheo]

Is it also possible that quebec has a higher percentage of dairy farms vs the animal farms in BC?

[GordonH]

The title of the link is "Average operating revenues and expenses of farms, by farm type"

There is one of these industrial style dairy farms in the Valley, somewhere in Spallumcheen area. I've never gone looking for it, no interest.

[burnedatstake]

why dont we stop subsidizing absolutely everything?

[christopher]

Is it also possible that quebec has a higher percentage of dairy farms vs the animal farms in BC?

Quebec and Ontario make up 75% of Canadian dairy farms http://www.dairyinfo.gc.ca/index_e.php? ... erme&s3=nb

[Merry]

Canada’s 11,000 dairy farmers are concentrated in vote-rich provinces Quebec and Ontario, giving the industry out-sized influence in domestic politics.

http://business.financialpost.com/news/ ... oncessions
Is it right that the rest of us pay overly high prices for our Dairy Products, simply to ensure that 11,000 Canadians continue to receive an income that is 60% above the national average?

I don't think so!

[oneh2obabe]

The price of milk, butter and cheese hasn't increased signifcantly from what I was paying in the '90's with 2 hollow-legged teenage rugrats at home.

You keep saying the farmers earn 60% more than the national average? Which national average? Are you comparing dairy farmers to dairy famers or dairy farmers to office workers, policeman, fireman, general labourer, or food industry workers?

How many people are willing to work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, worry about budgets, whether to invest in new equipment or keep the old equipment running, and worry about sick animals.

[Merry]

How many people are willing to work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, worry about budgets, whether to invest in new equipment or keep the old equipment running, and worry about sick animals.

This image of the average Canadian farmer is a little out of date according to Stats Can

The long-held image of Canadian farmers plowing small plots of land to eke out a meagre existence has been dashed by a new report that reveals Canadian agriculture is rapidly consolidating and the size of family farms is growing at an unprecedented rate.

The 2011 Census of Agriculture by Statistics Canada shows that while the number of farms has decreased 10 per cent in the last five years to 205,730, the average farm size has jumped 7 per cent. In some regions, such as Saskatchewan, the number of farms has fallen nearly 17 per cent, while the average farm size is up 15 per cent to more than 1,600 acres.

Today, a growing number of farmers generate millions of dollars in annual sales and rely on a staff of paid employees. Farms with $1-million or more in annual revenue represent the fastest growing sector of Canadian agriculture, jumping 36 per cent since 2006.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/na ... le4106102/

Although the article refers to ALL farms (not just Dairy) the comments do apply just as much to Dairy as to all the rest.