A new report outlines the government subisidies in the U.S. dairy industry.
The report comes out at a time when three governments, the U.S., Canada and Mexico, are re-negotiating NAFTA.
It was released by Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates, an international trade and public affiars consulting firm.
The study looks at the support at the federal, state, and local levels and focuses on changes introduced by the 2014 Farm Bill.
It shows that in 2015, the American government doled out approximately $22.2 billion dollars in direct and indirect subsidies to the U.S dairy sector. The report estimates that in 2015, the support granted to U.S dairy producers represented approximately C$35.02/hectolitre - the equivalent of 73% of the farmers' marketplace revenue.
USDA data also reveals that US dairy farmers operate at a loss, and have a cost of production that is higher than what they earn from the marketplace.
The difference between the U.S national average farm-gate price received by farmers, and the U.S. national average costs of production, in every year from 2005-2016, represents a loss to the farmer.
Representatives from the firm released the report at the Annual Policy Conference of Dairy Farmers of Canada.
