Dairy farmers across the province are dumping milk due to lack of demand from the food service industry in yet another runoff effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Producers were notified last week by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) that disposing of milk would be necessary on a “select and rotating basis,” Cheryl Smith, the organization’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

“Disposing of milk is an extraordinary measure, and one that Dairy Farmers of Ontario has only ever considered in emergency situations,” Smith said.

The action is driven by a dramatic reduction in demand for dairy products from food service providers and the hospitality industry, which have taken a massive hit amidst closings due to COVID-19.

But dairy farmers maintain that consumer supply chains will not be impacted and that milk and dairy products will remain on supermarket shelves — despite many grocery stores putting purchase limits on these goods.

“We are working very closely with processors and industry groups to respond to the unpredictable market fluctuations that are now part of our current environment,” Smith said.

Southwestern Ontario is home to more than 60 per cent of the province’s 3,600 dairy farms.

Producers will share the cost of their lost revenue, with all farmers taking lower pay for their milk to compensate those having to discard it.

While dumping milk might be a painful prospect for farmers, it’s one they say is necessary to maintain farm operations and be ready for future changes in supply demand.

“It’s heartbreaking, it really is,” said Vicky Morrison, a dairy farmer in Essex County and DFO board member who represents Middlesex, Elgin, Lambton Essex and Kent counties. “I stood and cried when I opened the tap this morning. That’s two days of work down the drain. It’s hard to watch, but we know we have to do it.”

Morrison attributes any currently empty shelves to initial panic buying sparked by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the province, but said ample milk is available to be processed and distributed, despite the disposing measures.

The DFO said they will continue to assess the situation on a weekly basis, but that it’s unclear when the disposing measures will be lifted.

“You think you’re in the safest industry in the world, that you’d have security, then it turns out you don’t have any more security than anyone else really,” said Tommy Faulker of London Dairy Farms.

He said the milk dumping points to uncertainty and challenges throughout the dairy supply chain as producers, processors and distributors adapt to fluctuating demands. But on his farm, work continues as normal.

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“You can’t turn a cow off like a tap,” Faulkner said.

“What we do for now is business as normal. In a few months, this could all be over. We kind of just have to stay the course and suffer the consequences just like everyone else in society.”