Minnesota Dairy Farmers Get a Small Win in Trade Ruling Against Canada

Times are tough for Minnesota dairy farmers. High labor and feed costs and fluctuating prices for products like milk, cheese and butter make for uncertain business. Many farmers are giving up: in 2021, Minnesota lost 154 of its roughly 2,100 dairy farms.

But a recent settlement brokered under the auspices of the USMCA trade agreement, the Trump-era replacement for NAFTA, brought some good news for Minnesota dairy farmers and the industry in the U.S. generally. After a ruling by a special disciplinary panel that found Canada was violating its agricultural trade agreement with the U.S., Canada is now required to change the way it sells dairy products imported from the U.S. in ways that will be advantageous to American producers.

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