PART THREE
By the 1960s and 70s, milk marketing was undergoing big changes as consumer demand for low-fat milk, like 2% and skim milk, increased, creating significant surplus cream for big dairy plants in urban centres. That surplus cream was turned into butter and other dairy products, reducing the market for butter from independent country creameries. Consolidation, buyouts and mergers also reduced the number of creameries, resulting in the loss of local creameries for cream producers across the province. For many producers, it meant giving up cream production and shipping or expanding into fluid milk production only. The latter would have required a considerable investment as many old-time cream shippers had as few as a dozen milk cows with minimum equipment and facilities. For many, I suspect they just quietly went out of business, but others hung and continued to ship cream to some of the surviving country creameries and cheese plants. For those holdouts, that turned out to be a fortunate decision thanks to a new, unique and controversial milk marketing scheme called dairy supply management (DSM). The latter has a rather complicated history, but it still exists, and despite any controversy about being a monopoly, it has served milk producers well across the country.
A book could be written about the trials, tribulations, machinations and politics of DSM. Its establishment in the early 1970s provided existing producers in the fluid milk and cream business production qoutas. One of the pillars of DSM was that the provincial milk marketing board was required to market those production quotas at a fair price to producers – a service it does to this day. That was a godsend of sorts to cream shippers who, at the time, would have trouble finding a market for their cream as demand decreased and country creameries went out of business. Finding a home for low demand cream now became a problem and cost for the milk marketing board as marketing and transportation expenses were pooled.
Depending on the province and the local milk/cream demand and marketing, several provinces decided to phase out cream producers by buying out their production quotas. It was a way of rationalizing fluid milk production at the producer level, and it allowed processors and marketers to sort out skim-off cream production and dairy product production without having to buy unwanted cream producers. It took a few years to buy out cream producers. I am familiar with the process, as I had a former relative who possessed cream quotas in NE Saskatchewan. He hung onto it till around 1985 when the Sask milk board forced him to sell them his cream quota. I expect similar situations occurred in other provinces, including Alberta. Curiously, as the provinces all eliminated cream-only shippers, they maintained a pricing system that divided milk producers into two tiers of milk pricing – industrial or fluid. I understand it took decades for some provincial marketing boards to give up that pricing system. The aggravation for producers was that either type of designated milk cost the same to produce.
Now, having said all that, there may be some exceptions – there exists in Canada milk producers and processors within the quota system that have created niche boutique milk and dairy product markets for Jersey breed; grass-fed; and organic milk production. Dairy marketers across Canada continue to use the word “creamery” in their brand marketing at the retail and consumer level. There are a few cow-to-table milk producers/marketers nationwide, such as D Dutchmen Dairy in Sicamous, BC. However most independent dairy product manufacturers would not buy cream directly from milk producers. They would buy their cream and milk needs directly from big consolidated milk plants or marketing boards in tanker trucks. They would then manufacture their branded and boutique butters, yogurts, cheeses, ice cream, etc.. for sale to the public.
Creameries started out as a local market for small mixed farmers, and many were part of a social and economic development program by early territorial and provincial governments. As the ag economy evolved, many fell victim to consolidation, mergers, market and demand changes or adverse business conditions. Some, like the iconic Markerville creamery, toughed it out till 1972, and fortunately, for this piece of unique Alberta history, later became a local tourist attraction. Interestingly, how even the ordinary bar (also called stick, block or pack) of butter has a long and winding history. Just remember, buy more real butter; it’s good for the body and mind.
Will Verboven is an ag opinion writer.
