News Dairy
Canadian dairy producers receive letters with compensation details

Newly re-appointed federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced that letters are being sent to all eligible Canadian dairy producers outlining the process to access their compensation through the Dairy Direct Payment program.

The Canadian government’s Dairy Direct Payment program is administered by the Canadian Dairy Commission.

Producers can choose to receive their payment in 2019 or by March 30, 2020. Producers have until March 1, 2020 to response to the government letter, according to an update provided by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario.

The $1.75 billion compensation package is meant to help dairy producers negatively impacted by the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The funding will roll out over eight years for nearly 11,000 farmers to compensate them for losses. About $345 million of that total will be paid out in the first year in direct payments according to their production quotas.