CANADIAN BUTTER.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19813, 28 December 1929, Page 15

CANADIAN BUTTER.

INCREASING OUTPUT. FBOV A SPECIAL Corebspondeht. VANCOUVER, November 27. The value of the ouput of the dairy industry in Canada has increased steadily since 1921, From year to year there have been fluctuations in the relative amounts of the different products manufactured, but on the whole the increase has been steady. Naturally, milk tends to go into that line of manufacturing most profitable to producers, so that the total production is an index of the state of the industry. The following table illustrates this growth:— Year Butter-fat lb. Value. 1921 .. 345,216,251 £41,080,000 192S .. 493,992,274 £50.800,000 While the increase iu the quantity of milk produced has been steady and substantial, it has not been large enough during the last two years to meet the greatly increased home consumption of milk and its products. These home requirements in 1928 exceeded those of 1924 by the equivalent of 70,000,0001b of butter or 143,000,000 lb of cheese. There has not been any large increase in the output of ereamery butter in Canada in the past two or three years. The increases in the eastern provinces have been offset by decreases on the Prairie, due to the preoccupation of the farmers with big wheat crops. In the last season, however, v/hen the Prairie grain crop fell far below anticipations, there was a revival of interest in dairying, and within the year there has been a substantial gain. In the spring of 1029, for instance, the increase in dairy products in Saskatchewan was 111 per cent., compared with the same period of 1928. The price of Canadian cheese has been relatively high because of its popularity in the English market. There has been a great improvement in its quality in recent years under the grading system. In 1925, the percentage of first-grade cheese was 93, compared with 78 in 1923, the year in which grading was inaugurated. Ontario cheese reached 97 per cent. This improvement coupled with a new demand in the Old Country for high-grade Cheddar (the type made in Canada), owing to the "rapid decrease of production of this cheese in England and Scotland, has placed Canadian cheese in the most favourable position it has occupied since the export trade began in ISS6. There was a substantial increase in the ouput of cheese in 1928. The fact that New Zealand butter reached its peak of export to Canada —10,000,0001b in 1928 is expected to provide ammunition for resuming the attack on the reciprocal treaty when the House of Commons meets in January. Especially is this the more J likely since the wheat crop fell off, ( and since there has been a continued I sense of anxiety about the disposal of the 1929 harvest, which is being held | back from the market by the Canadian Wheat Pool till prices improve. Saskatchewan members are expected to make an even stronger outburst than last year. One is afraid the combination of influences operating this year may have the effect of shaking the foundations of the treaty, possibly to the point of withdrawing the preference on dairy products.