In testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee today, International Dairy Foods Association Chairman Paul Kruse warned the Senate against proposals for supply management.
"…one plan calls for a cap on the supply of farm milk by applying a tax on milk produced above a level set to meet a calculated average cost of producing milk,” he testified. “However, doing so means that larger and lower cost producers make even more profit at the expense of consumers and the loss of export markets.
“In the Canadian system, which tries to do this, we have seen efficient dairy producers pay $27,000 per cow for the marketing quota to sell milk. Canadian processors, unable to source Canadian milk, are investing and expanding in the U.S,” he says.
“Propping up domestic milk prices to levels above world market prices surely would cause the U.S. dairy industry to lose enormous opportunities for export growth and to open our markets to increased imports.”
Kruse’s full testimony can be found here.
