At the Annual General Meeting of Les Producteurs de lait du Québec, Alain Bourbeau, General Manager, gave a positive review of the dairy sector in 2014.
Retail sales of dairy products were up: cream (4.6%), butter (4.1%), cheese (1.2%) and yogurt (0.3%). These increases more than compensated for the slight 1% decrease in fluid milk sales.
The organic milk market continued its growth in 2014, with organic milk sales rising 18.3%, or 5.6 million litres.
In 2014, Les Producteurs de lait du Québec granted 163 loans as part of the Young Dairy Farmers Assistance Program and 8 new loans of 12 kg/day as part of the Startup Assistance Program. Since its inception in 2006, the Startup Assistance Program has helped 96 new farms launch milk production operations. “Producers were visionaries by setting up these programs, and young farmers are still very present on dairy farms,” concluded Mr. Bourbeau.
Press release – Positive review of the dairy sector in 2014