Concerns are being raised by dairy farmers about the recent trade agreement reached between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
What will now be known as the USMCA, will give an expanded 3.6 per cent market access to the domestic dairy market and will also eliminate competitive dairy classes.
Chairman for the New Brunswick Dairy Farmers Paul Gaunce says he is still waiting for all of the details, but from what he has seen so far, it is disappointing, “Dairy wasn’t even involved in the first NAFTA deal, it wasn’t even touched. Why now? If it is a fair trade deal for us as Producers, then we would have access to their markets. But we can’t have access to their markets, where their farmers are subsidized, because we can’t compete with their prices.”
Gaunce adds that dairy is just a small part of this deal, “You would have to look at the whole deal to see what Canada got, and what Canada didn’t get. I am just speaking from my perspective as a Dairy Producer that we aren’t very happy. It hurts. I’m sure we will survive, but everytime you cut us and we bleed, it hurts.”
