Canadian Government Forces Dairy Farm To Dump 30,000 Liters Of Milk Because They've Gone Over Quota

The cost of basic groceries in the United States has skyrocketed to levels some people have never seen before. For example, the price of eggs has almost doubled in the last year, supposedly because of a bird flu outbreak that has negatively affected many chicken coops across the country. Canada is struggling with many similar price hikes as well. Last year it was reported that Canada saw a record-high price of milk and a dairy farmer said on social media that a liter of milk now costs $7. He also shared footage of his farm throwing out tens of thousands of liters of milk because the government mandated them to.

Canadian Government Forces Dairy Farm to Dump 30,000 Liters of Milk Because They've Gone Over Quota

Government regulation has proven to be inefficient many times in the past, but the Canadian government has taken that to new heights. Chef Andrew Gruel shared a tweet from @BushelsPerAcre, which included a clip of a dairy farmer from Ontario who insisted on showing the world how the Canadian government was responsible for the enormous waste of perfectly good milk. The dairy farmer explains that the cows produce more milk than usual during the winter months because the feed is very consistent. That has resulted in the farm going "over our quota," which is strictly regulated by the government and DFO (Dairy Farmers of Ontario).

All milk in Ontario is sold to the DFO, and from there the organization handles processing, transportation, and distribution. If a dairy farm goes over the monthly milk quota, they are not allowed to distribute the milk, sell it, or even give it away to shelters. These dairy farmers are forced to throw away all of this extra milk.

"I dump 30,000 liters of milk and it breaks my heart," the dairy farmer says in the video. "Canadian milk is $7 a liter."

He says he goes to the barbershop for a haircut and they sometimes ask him as a dairy farmer why on earth milk is so expensive. He explains that it's completely out of the hands of farmers. The Canadian government has strict rules on how much milk they can make and how much they can sell. Presumably, these dairy farmers will be fined (or worse) if they break the rules and go against the government's wishes.

"This is such a travesty. Under no circumstance should this be acceptable," Andrew wrote in the caption of the reel he shared. "I’ve said for years government inconvenient in the food system will create horrible inefficiencies. This is one of them. People starve and we throw away good product. Stop the massive subsidies, allow the market to operate without manipulation. SHARE this."

Many people in the comment section expressed their anger at such a senseless waste of food, especially at a time when so many families are struggling to put food on the table.

"Funny how they claim to want to end world hunger, then go and do this," one person commented.

"Oh my gosh how many hungry mouths would have loved a gallon of milk from that farm. Absolute travesty," someone wrote.

Last year, Ontario dairy farmers were forced to drain thousands of liters of milk after a winter storm that put a dent in the supply chain's operations. Refrigerated trucks usually come to dairy farms to pick up milk every 48 hours, but because of dangerous road conditions, DFO wasn't able to send drivers to pick up a large amount of milk from countless dairy farmers.

Farmers were forced to dump thousands of liters of milk to make room for the additional milk that the cows kept producing, as they are not legally able to distribute the milk on their own. One farm in Seaforth, Ontario was forced to throw away 3,400 liters of milk, which came out to a $3,000 loss, not to mention a huge loss of perfectly useful food that could have been given to people in need. Another farm in northern Ontario lost 24,000 liters of milk, which was worth almost $20,000.