Photo credit: Vancouver is awesome
A new study found that Canada’s dairy industry discarded enough milk to feed 11 per cent of the country’s population every year for over a decade.
Vancouver is Awesome reports that research published in Ecological Economics found that between 6.8 billion and 10 billion litres of milk have vanished from Canadian farms since 2012. That’s enough to supply 4.2 million people at the low end annually.
The retail value of the milk was calculated at $6.7 billion. The authors also estimate that milk production released 8.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the emissions produced by about 350,000 gas-powered passenger vehicles driven for a year.
Jacques Lefebvre, CEO of Dairy Farmers of Canada, said that many of the study’s conclusions are based on “estimates” rather than “robust data.” He added that milk surpluses were often linked to supply chain issues., and that the report’s findings require independent validation.
According to the report, milk quotas have not properly adjusted to the changing diet of many Canadians – some of whom drink less or no milk in favour of plant-based alternatives.
The authors also acknowledge that it’s difficult to know how much to blame the country’s supply management system for overproduction and how much can be attributed to changes in farming practices and shifts in consumer preferences.
Over the years, the level of discarded milk has fallen, something the authors attribute to “a combination of improved farm management practices, advancements in dairy processing technologies, stricter adherence to regulatory standards, and better supply chain coordination.”
Many of the problems that lead to overproduction are not unique to Canada’s dairy sector. However, compared to te US and several European countries, wastage in Oanada is still significantly higher, the study says.
