The new trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada offered some rare good news for struggling domestic dairy farmers.
The deal would give U.S. farmers more access to the protected Canadian dairy market. The change is similar to a provision in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade pact canceled by the Trump administration, according to Ohio State University professor Ian Sheldon.
鈥淚鈥檒l call that a crack in the door,鈥� Ohio Dairy Producers Association CEO Scott Higgins said. 鈥淎nd that gives us an opportunity to continue to do business with the companies that are looking for U.S. dairy products.鈥�
Low prices have put pressure on the industry, driving some Ohio farmers to leave the business entirely.
The number of Ohio dairy farms has fallen 7.4 percent in the past year, according to Dianne Shoemaker, a field specialist at Ohio State University.
鈥淭his has been a very bad time to be a dairy farmer,鈥� Shoemaker said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had very low prices for three years, our markets are much more volatile than they used to be.鈥�
Meanwhile, milk production continues to rise. That oversupply keeps prices low. In Ohio, milk prices rose in 2017, but are still below 2014 levels, .
鈥淲e still have too much milk,鈥� Shoemaker said. 鈥淲e have a lot of cows, and we have a lot of cows producing milk.鈥�
Under the terms of the trilateral agreement, Canada would also do away with a rule that Scott Higgins said allowed it to undercut American prices for some dairy products. He said the expansion of exports should have a positive effect on prices.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to cure the problems,鈥� Dianne Shoemaker said. 鈥淏ut hopefully it will protect and allow us to continue to grow export markets for milk.鈥�
Ohio is the eleventh-largest milk-producing state in the U.S., supplying 2.6 percent of the nation鈥檚 milk in 2017, .
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