New Brunswick dairy farmer Jacques Laforge, who stepped down last year as Dairy Farmers of Canada president, has been appointed the new head of the Canadian Dairy Commission.
He replaces former Ontario dairy farmer leader John Core, who retired last year. It is a three-year term.
The CDC is an Ottawa-based crown corporation that has a mandate to work with all dairy industry players to help strengthen the industry.
It also decides federal dairy product price support levels each year that help determine prices and returns to dairy farmers. They are regularly increased to reflect rising costs, although dairy processors and retailers complain it is to their detriment.
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Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said in a Feb. 7 Ottawa announcement prepared before he left on a trade mission to China last weekend that Laforge will work for all dairy industry interests.
“As both a farmer and a former president of the Dairy Farmers of Canada, Mr. Laforge has established himself as a driving force in the Canadian dairy industry,” said the minister. “I am certain that his knowledge and passion for the industry will continue to serve our dairy producers and processors well as he takes on this important new role.”
Dairy Farmers of Canada quickly issued a statement welcoming the appointment and promising to work with the new CDC chief executive officer to advance the dairy industry.
“He is a progressive dairy businessman and his leadership and management skills were well appreciated while he was DFC president in recent years,” DFC president Wally Smith said yesterday. He replaced Laforge last summer.
Critics of what they consider an undue dairy farmer influence over the CDC, that is meant to represent the entire industry, including dairy processors and the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, did not immediately react to the appointment.
Laforge and his family have operated a 1,000-acre dairy and grain farm since 1980 in northern New Brunswick.
During his years as DFC president, he forged strong relations between the dairy farmer lobby and the federal government.
