There’s been a lot of talk about renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and a new trade barrier between the U.S. and the Canadian dairy industry is likely to find its way to the surface, and soon.
In a letter from Grassland Dairy Products in Wisconsin, dairies across the state were notified the processor would stop accepting their milk supply beginning May 1.
The dairies now have less than a month to find a new destination.
Grassland told Farm Journal’s MILK they had a two-day notice that it wouldn’t be able to export ultra-filtered milk to Canada due to new dairy regulations. Roughly 1 million pounds a day in sales was wiped off the books.
Tom Vilsack, former secretary of agriculture and current EO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), spoke about the new dairy restrictions on AgriTalk with host Mike Adams. He says as talks heat up over renegotiating NAFTA, the Canadian dairy industry needs to be a focus.
“They’re developing a new classification, Class 7, and we believe it’s been potentially designed to make it very difficult for American product to get into Canada,” said Vilsack. “It’ll tip the balance even further.”
The USDEC says they expect another three to four processors to be in the same situation as Grassland.
The two biggest states likely to feel the impact are Wisconsin and New York
