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Posted at 12:55 p.m. on April 5, 2017
The Brillion News
GREEN BAY – 8th District Congressman Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, said he will fight Canadian policies that forced the Grassland Dairy to cancel all of its purchases of milk from Wisconsin dairy farmers.
The company cut off long-standing purchases of Wisconsin milk after the Canadian government limited imports of American milk.
“Grassland recently made the difficult decision to reduce our milk intake volumes. After years of selling milk product into Canada, our Canadian partners notified us that due to their new Canadian dairy regulations, they would stop purchasing our products effective immediately,” Grassland said in a written statement to the news media. “The Canadian business affects Grassland up to one million pounds of milk per day. After evaluating and adjusting as much milk as possible, we were forced to decrease our milk intake.”
Gallagher said the decision by Canada is not fair.
“Trade must be free but fair, and Canada must play by the rules and end their protectionist policies,” Gallagher said,. “I’ve contacted the U.S. Trade Representative on this issue and will continue to push hard for fairness in the days ahead.”
Grassland buys most of the cream sold in Wisconsin. It received two days’ notice that its Canadian buyer would no longer be purchasing the product. About 75 dairy farms are expected to be hurt. Because there is an oversupply of milk in the upper Midwest, many farmers are expected to have a tough time finding any plant interested in buying their milk.