HALIFAX – Canadians, the only significant market for Canada’s dairy farmers, are becoming a tougher market for dairy products.
And as Canada’s demographics change, the market will become tougher, Canadian pollster Darrell Bricker told the Dairy Farmers of Canada annual general meeting in Halifax July 14.
There are two reasons, said the chief executive officer of Ipsos Global Public Affairs – an aging population and the fact that Canada’s population growth is coming through immigration, primarily from non-traditional sources like South Asia.
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Canadians drink less milk as they age, according to DFC research.
And many of the main sources of new immigrants are cultures in which milk and dairy consumption are not primary parts of the diet.
“I would say to you that you really have to spend some time understanding the new face of Canada,” Bricker told delegates. “This is not the traditional market that you are accustomed to serving.”
Part of the bad news is that an increasing portion of the aging Canadian population will be female and while most women polled say milk is a healthy product, 53 percent say it is fattening and most think they should lose weight.
It was part of what Bricker said was a mixed and sometimes conflicting message that consumers send.
They like and trust farmers yet worry about food additives, chemical use and industrial farming practices.
They say they support local production but want convenience and the
lowest possible price.
They claim to be concerned about the environment but fewer than one in five would be willing to change their buying patterns because of environmental issues.
And consumers increasingly are skeptical about political and industry messages, believing they have the right to ask questions, challenge and demand answers.
Bricker summed up the typical consumer attitude to food: “I want to be able to eat strawberries when I want them and at the lowest price possible.”
A number of delegates argued that if the industry is flexible and creative, the arrival of hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year and the growing portion of elderly Canadians in the population are opportunities for the industry.
But dairy farmers also have to learn to be more respectful of the message they hear from consumers.
When one delegate predicted that immigrants and their children could be convinced to adopt Canadian consumption ways and the best way to deal with misinformation in the market was to fight back, Bricker had a caution.
“You should not walk away from every fight but choose your fights carefully,” he said. And with the internet keeping immigrants more in touch with their homeland, Canadian integration may not happen as quickly as it once did.
Some dairy farmers in the audience said the industry could adapt but others argued against what they consider a Canadian “cheap food policy” and a lack of consumer concern about the financial viability of Canadian farms.
They complained about consumer misinformation about animal welfare, food safety and modern farm practices.
Bricker said the key is not to lecture consumers about the benefits of modern farm practices as a way to feed the nation or about the safety of farmer use of GMO varieties or other inputs.
“If you can’t tell them how they will benefit, there will not be a conversation,” he said. “If you want them (consumers) to come on side, you have to tell them how it works for them. All I’ve heard is why it works for you.”
British Columbia turkey producer Garnet Etsell, first vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, also cautioned delegates about using the argument that Canadian food is cheap because on average Canadians spend less than 10 percent of their disposable incomes on food, lower than just a handful of countries.
He said farmers have to acknowledge there is a consumer concern about food prices.
“We have to be careful with that number,” he said. “A good part of it is the higher Canadian disposable income than in most countries.”
