Milk Producer - March 2010 - (Page 10)

DAIRYUPDATE Quota policy revised Changes aimed at transferring as much quota as possible through exchange ntario quota policy has been revised with a view to having as much quota as possible transferred through the monthly exchange. Policy revisions affect family quota donations, ongoing farm operations, new entrants and new producers, quota exchange allocation priority order and shared facility use. Objectives include providing existing producers with fair, equitable access to buying quota on the exchange. While Dairy Farmers Ontario (DFO) continues to support same-site quota transfers, revisions ensure quota from two licence holders is not merged and quota is not rented. Ontario quota demand has risen sharply since August 2009, while available supply for sale has dropped just as dramatically. That was the issue facing board members as they dealt with the issue at their regular meeting late February. A detailed 10-page report to the board lays out the facts and figures. In each of the first two months of 2010, for example, an average of 454 producers per exchange bid for quota. Just 16 producers per exchange offered 134 kilograms for sale. In January, three new entrants exempt from exchange proration provisions bought most of the available quota. Too little was left to prorate to remaining bidders. DFO’s board approved five policy revisions. A letter mailed to all producers early March detailed the changes. Here are the highlights: • quota transfers from the parent’s original farm location and licence to a child are restricted to a child who does not hold any quota and is starting at a dairy facility where the parent was not issued a licence in the last five years; 10 | March 2010 | MilkPRODUCER O • a seller must have produced milk continuously for five years to sell a farm as an ongoing farm operation. Buyers have to purchase the dairy facilities and associated land base to obtain a farm’s quota. Buyers cannot relocate the quota within five years and can never merge it with quota on another licence; • an applicant is ineligible for the quota exchange proration exemption if they or their spouse held a licence to produce and market milk in Canada in the previous five years, are starting on the farm where a parent was licensed to market milk in the previous five years or holds quota; • two queues—one for producers under the New Entrants Quota Assistance Program (NEQAP) and the other for unassisted new producers—became effective in March. The proration exemption applies to one producer from each queue for each monthly exchange; • A quota exchange allocation priority order has been set: 1. 0.1 kg to existing producers bidding on the exchange; 2. 12 to 23 kg for one new entrant under the NEQAP; 3. 10 to 35 kg for one unassisted new producer; 4. any balance of quota for sale will be distributed through normal allocation and proration policies; • shared facility use is restricted to no more than 90 days for catastrophes, human or herd medical issues, or loss or damage to production facilities. Extensions may be granted for rebuilding facilities if proper documentation is supplied. Exact wording of these revised quota policies will be mailed to all producers early May. Briefly Attorney General files appeal in raw milk case DFO supports strong action by the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General to protect public health by appealing a lower court ruling that acquitted Michael Schmidt on 19 charges relating to the unlicenced processing, sale and distribution of unpasteurized milk and dairy products. The Notice of Appeal identifies 19 specific legal errors, failures, misapplications or misinterpretations in the Jan. 21, 2010 decision rendered by a Justice of the Peace. “There are valid scientific and medical reasons why we have been pasteurizing milk for more than 70 years,” says DFO general manager, Peter Gould. “Drinking unpasteurized milk is patently unsafe.” Berendsens seek leave to appeal judgment reversal Dairy farmers Maria and Ben Berendsen recently filed a leave to appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada after an Ontario Appeal Court rescinded a $1.7 million judgment for asphalt and concrete that was dumped from a highway reconstruction nearly 40 years ago on a farm they bought in 1981 in Teviotdale, Ont. Within a year of buying the property, the Berendsens said, their cows suffered numerous health problems and milk production dropped by half. They later sued the province for polluting the property and were awarded $1.7 million in January 2008, but the province appealed. An article in our January issue incorrectly identified the Berendsens as former dairy farmers. The Milk Producer regrets the error.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milk Producer - March 2010

Milk Producer - March 2010
Contents
Editor's Notes
DFO Chair's Message
Provincial Perspectives
Dairy Update
DFC Policy
Farm Finance
DFC Promotion
Heating With Cow Power
Processor Spotlight
Issues Update
Research
Applied Science
Ruminations
Markets
New 'N' Noted
Back Forty

Milk Producer - March 2010