SAINT JOHN, N.B. – The beleaguered Canadian Wheat Board might be a marketing model for the dairy industry as it gets accustomed to a freer trade world, says agriculture minister Ralph Goodale.
Dairy officials often seem uneasy about the export market because they see it as a low-price trap that will force farmers to produce at below cost-of-production just to compete, he said.
It may not be so, Goodale told the annual meeting of the Dairy Farmers of Canada lobby group.
The dairy industry might instead be able to service the “high end, upscale part of the global market” by wooing customers on the basis of quality, safety, dependability, consistency and after-sale customer follow-up.
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Works for grain
“Marketing characteristics have long been part of our basic export strategy in the grain business, to avoid the worst competition on the basis of price alone,” said the minister.
“Could this experience also be applicable to the dairy system? I don’t know but at least it is worth considering.”
He said the dairy industry, which traditionally has concentrated on controlling or blocking imports, sometimes looks at the expanding export market as a problem.
Instead, it should be seen as a “fascinating challenge” that can be managed.
However, the industry still has not organized its plans or figured out how to approach the challenge.
Goodale said the key will be to figure out how to sell at a price premium, rather than merely chasing prices down in foreign markets.
