Year Of Volatility For Dairy Farmers

Dairy Farmers of Canada says 2020 was a year of volatility.

 

Vice President David Wiens made the comments during his year-end interview.

 

"It started off back in March, when they first started to close things down," he said. "When that happened, there was this immediate spike in demand, especially for fluid milk right then, and then a couple of weeks later, the demand started to go down and as we learnt, a bit later, was because the food service industry was shutting down as well, particularly restaurants and hotels."

 

Wiens says demand for dairy picked up later in the year.

 

"Over the summer and into fall now we've seen a steady increase in demand. It's been a year of volatility for us, especially earlier on. Back in spring we reduced production very quickly to match the demand and since then we have been increasing our production and of course that all takes a while because with cows, when you reduce production, you can not just immediately, on the spur of the moment, go back to where you were."

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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2023-38640-39573 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number ENC23-226. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.