In the summer of 1965 I was a 16-year-old farm lad working in building construction during the day and helping with farm chores before and after work. All of eastern Ontario was suffering from three very dry summers and many farmers had expensive hay shipped in from southern Ontario. There was plenty of hay up in the New Liskeard area of northern Ontario but it was too wet there to make and save hay.
It was in August of 1965 that the Ontario Milk Marketing Board was created—now named Dairy Farmers of Ontario. I remember it well. Bill Stewart and Everett Biggs were the two most influential men involved in creating the board. Bill Stewart was the Ontario Minister of Agriculture from 1961 to 1975. Everett Biggs was the Ontario Deputy Minister of Agriculture. Biggs grew up on a dairy farm near Pembroke. He was a former dairy commissioner.
It’s interesting to note that I worked on the construction of the addition to the Bigg’s dairy barn near Pembroke at that time owned by Everett’s brother Reggie. That was in 1968 I believe.
Many farmers milking a small herd quit in 1965-66 as they didn’t like the idea of a marketing board and quota. My father wasn’t happy either when the board was established. The milk quota farmers were issued was based on the previous 12 months of shipping milk. 1963 and 1964 were very dry summers and pastures were dried up early and hay was scarce. Milk production suffered. The quota we were issued meant my father had to sell cows and heifers at depressed prices. Prices were very low due to the drought. There were a few lean years. But being farmers we stuck it out buying quota and continued milking cows.
Prior to 1965 there was a lot of chaos for milk shippers. Most dairy farmers will agree that the creation and existence of the Ontario Milk Marketing Board has been the salvation of all milk producers in Ontario.
In 1970, the National Milk Marketing Plan came into effect to control supply, with the federal government and the governments of Ontario and Quebec, the two largest provinces, signing on. By 1974 every province except Newfoundland had signed on. Following dairy, a national supply management system was implemented for eggs in 1972, turkey in 1974, chicken in 1978 and chicken hatching eggs in 1986.
Supply management is the mechanism by which milk, poultry, turkey and egg farmers in Canada adjust their production (done by the board) in order to meet consumer needs. Products are mainly intended for the domestic market and not as exports.
Supply management has been given a bad rap by some academics and politicians. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it well in a recent interview after President Donald Trump’s attack on supply management: “Every country protects its agricultural industries. We have a supply management system that works well here in Canada. The Americans and other countries choose to subsidize to the tune of millions of dollars, if not billions, their agriculture industries, including their dairy.”
Right on!
