Saskatchewan milk producers are being forced to dump some of their product because of restaurant closures due to the covid-19 outbreak.
The manager of policy and research at SaskMilk, Joy Smith, says food services and restaurants have reduced milk purchases, causing a lot of uncertainty for dairy producers.
She says cows don’t have a tap that can be turned off and producers have had to dump some milk.
“COVID-19 has sort of changed the landscape out there, and how everything works,” said Smith. “The impact that it’s had on dairy is that, all of these restaurants, food service, and coffee shop especially, are closed. That’s just dramatically shifting the demand for some of the products, reducing it.”
Smith says producers will be reducing production where possible and hope to keep the amount dumped to a few percent points.
She says some of the surplus milk will be donated to the food banks across the country.
