Agriculture committee  Okay.

Agriculture committee  Okay. In addition to the DFC's efforts regarding the milk protein, it's important to realize that CETA, other trade deals, and the TPP will have a major impact as well on our industry. In conclusion, the Dairy Farmers of Canada focuses on serving our domestic market. It's impo

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will begin my presentation in French, and then I will continue in English. On behalf of Dairy Farmers of Canada, or DFC, I'd like to thank you for the invitation to appear before the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food in view of its study on

International Trade committee  Thank you. We were very happy with that. That's why we put in the presentation that maintaining the cheese standard is very important, but enforcing it would be even more important. I think you all heard us on the importance of enforcing the cheese standard right now when we were

International Trade committee  The average dairy farm in Canada is 75 cows. In the east, like Quebec, you can have farms with 20 cows to 60 cows. That's the average in Quebec. In Ontario it's 79. In the west it's 140. Those are the averages. As you can see, they are not the biggest farms, like those you see in

International Trade committee  We have the fine cheeses where you can have a niche market and that's why I was mentioning in the presentation that if we were to go and export, we would have to go into a niche market, not into commodities. We can't compete with New Zealand. Ninety-six per cent of their producti

International Trade committee  How long do you have?

International Trade committee  We'll have to take that offline. The quota is actually the right to produce. In our case, I can't speak for the others, but I know it's provincially managed as well. Each province has their own way to do it. In some it's rated openly and they have different rules in every provin

International Trade committee  You have to produce your quota. It's a responsibility as well. As I said, we manage the whole system through the quota.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  You would actually buy a quota.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  This is really looking into the crystal ball. One thing I can tell you is that the TPP is taking away a part of our market. It's taking away the growth. If you're a business person, and you're looking at your growth for the next year, for the years to perpetuity, and it's being t

International Trade committee  First, I must tell you you're not alone in wanting Canadian products. We had a campaign during TPP: Canadian milk matters. There were more than 215,000 letters that were sent across the country to most of you in support of Canadian dairy farmers. They like the Canadian products b

International Trade committee  We have heard in the House of Commons in an answer to a question by the minister saying he supports compensation. That's all I can say.