The chair of Dairy Farmers of Ontario says changes in consumer attitudes are good for the industry.
Ralph Dietrich says for awhile dairy products like cheese and butter were considered unhealthy.
But recent highly publicized studies have decided otherwise.
As a result there's been an increase in sales for just about all kinds of dairy products, especially butter.
"Now the truth is out dairy products are not bad for you. They're good for you and maybe even more necessary than we thought so consumers are hearing this so they're now making decisions based on dairy products being a good thing for them not a bad," said Dietrich in an interview after his presentation at Grey Bruce Farmers' Week in Elmwood.
Meanwhile, Dietrich says the Trans Pacific Partnership will provide long term stability to the industry.
He admits there are things in the TPP they're not happy about.
There will be an increase in dairy products allowed into Canada from outside the county of 3.25 per cent.
But Dietrich says they're still hoping the Trudeau government will commit to compensating farmers as did the previous government, particularly in investment in processing infrastructure.
The Harper government had said it would invest 450 million dollars to upgrade aging processing facilities.
But, Dietrich says, at least now that the TPP is pretty much a done deal, producers can more confidently plan for the future.
Today is Goat Day at Grey Bruce Farmers Week in Elmwood.
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Ralph Dietrich says for a while, dairy products like cheese and butter were considered unhealthy.
However, he says recent highly-publicized studies have decided otherwise.
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Dietrich says the industry is hoping the Trudeau government will follow through on the previous government's promise to compensate farmers for the impact of the TPP.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/DIETRICH-Dairy-2.mp3"][/audio]
