There's actually a pretty long tradition of agricultural cartels throughout Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Dairy_Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Wheat_Board
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Dairy_Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Wheat_Board
(They're really green.)
Summarizing, if dyed oranges are sold, there must be a label declaring this at the point of sale.
In practice, only early season Florida oranges are dyed. California has stricter rules, and does not allow it at all: http://littlelocavores.blogspot.com/2011/02/when-orange-isnt...
This is trivially false, in that even in the US there are many brands that do not color their butter[1], but I'd be interested in knowing the truth.
Is there an FDA rule that allows coloring to be added to butter without adding it to the ingredient list? I found a rule saying that FD&C Yellow No. 5 must explicitly be listed[2], and I did not see any exceptions for carotene.
[1] http://organicvalley.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/59...
[2] http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyG...
Disgusting.
Edit: doubly so when you consider dairy is an extremely basic good so they're illicitly profiting off of the poorest in society.
The TPP will add another ~500 million to that 325 million people so ~800 million versus 35 million people of which 12,000 are family farm dairies.
If the intent is to protect domestic producers from international competition, wouldn't a sufficiently high import tariff on dairy be a better solution?
The parent to my comment implied otherwise by bringing up the U.S. dairy market.
> but rather to create a floor price for agricultural goods
Why would we want that? Poor people need cheap food (well, we all could use cheap food). We don't have a national policy of 'floor prices' on other (non-vice) goods and services, do we?
The logic is that a free market with lean and fat years would result in wild price fluxuations. When yields were really good, prices would drop and some farmers would end up out of business. The cartel brings stability to prices. Each farmer agrees to produce X and in return has confidence they will get Y price.
The system undoubtably results in higher prices than a completely free market.
We have futures contracts that serve this role for other commodities, not cartels.
Oil price being one particularly topical. Over investment in marginal fields that are economical at an artificially inflated ~$100/boe due to speculation. This is particularly evident in the US in hiring booms and busts in the industry and the direct influence at the price at the pump (it is cushioned more in other countries by taxation for example in the UK tax is circa 80% of the pump price for fuel, whereas in the US it is circa 17%).
This wild variability in food prices would be very very bad for not only farmers but the public. Sure, in gluts, $0.50 milk per gallon would be great, but in times of say severe drought, $8/gallon would be devastating to those people for whom food is a large part of their budgets, or most people.
That's the idea behind it anyway. The same is done world wide and cannot be unwound in isolation. The US and EU both have farm subsidies or price smoothing.
I'm sure the system is gamed, like all systems are - but a completely unfettered free market, globally, for staple foods is unlikely to ever happen.
The price of oil is set by a cartel...
> Sure, in gluts, $0.50 milk per gallon would be great, but in times of say severe drought, $8/gallon would be devastating to those people for whom food is a large part of their budgets, or most people.
You can't stockpile milk, this argument makes no sense.
The problem is all those small dairy farms can't compete with giant industrial farms which use steroids, growth hormones, or antibiotics. Milk is actually dumped and farmers are fined if any trace of antibiotics are found in the milk.
Supply management is based on the cost of production at the farm itself which I think is fair since I see too many poor farmers and fisherman who work 20 hour days only to get a pittance of the final cost of the product.
It's a huge culture difference too Canadians tend to know a lot about their dairy products and don't see it as a product like an iPhone I think they do in the US.
I know people in my region will just refuse to buy imported dairy regardless of price due to the use of hormones, antibiotics (still in the milk) and steroids. Most now buy local beef, pork, chicken and seafood.
Eggs and chicken are also have similar controls.
Then ban the steroids, growth hormones, or antibiotics. None of this is a reason to allow the dairy farmers to form a cartel.
What's next, allow the car manufacturers to form a cartel because artisanal hand-made cars can't compete against factory-built cars?
It seems that from the leaked TPP documents, if true, a lot of the food standards countries are using will be lowered under TPP not raised.
I don't think it really makes a difference if the wrongdoers are Nestle or a 'federation of independent dairy farmers'. They're clearly earning part of their (middle class or better) income scamming poor people.
Now there are concerns that dairy farmers are being completely screwed by big dairy companies. It hasn't been a good thing! The Carr government is also the government who brought in public-private partnerships and closed the quarantine service in Paramatta.