N.B. dairy farmers boost milk production due to high butter demand

New Brunswick's dairy farmers are boosting milk production to help meet growing demand for butter. 

"Consumers loving butter is beautiful to me," said Paul Gaunce, Dairy Farmers of New Brunswick chairman.

The Canadian Dairy Commission says retail butter sales in the past 12 months have increased 2.7 per cent over the previous year. 

Butter makes everything taste better.- Paul Gaunce, Dairy Farmers of New Brunswick chairman

"Growth in the market for the past four years in butter has just been phenomenal, three and four per cent every year," said Gaunce, who owns Sugar Hill Farm in Passekeag.

"Butter makes everything taste better and I think consumers who are baking are finding that out. We always have huge demand for butter in the fall up towards Christmas because, obviously, everybody is making cookies for Santa Claus."

New Brunswick's milk production follows quotas established by boards in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

Effective Dec. 1, those quotas rise two per cent. 

That could translate into 3,000 extra tonnes of butter in 2015-2016, according to a monthly publication called Milk Matters put out by New Brunswick milk producers.

Use in moderation

Saint John dietitian Vanessa Yurchesyn says butter may taste better but it is a saturated fat and should be used in moderation.

She thinks some consumers are misinformed about margarine and reject it, believing it's too synthetic. 

"People often tell me, 'Well I've heard that butter's better for me or that margarine is one molecule away from plastic.' I hear that often. But it's all myths," she said.

At the Kozy Korner Restaurant in Hampton, butter is commonly used in chowders, on toast and to grease the grill. 

"Actual butter stays thick and rich and won't separate as much," said cook Collin Greer. "And it's all around good for baking."

Gaunce says those words are welcome in the dairy industry, which is dealing with some price fluctuations.

Farmers get paid for milk according to the blend price, which reflects the markets for various components of milk. And prices for milk proteins — which go into animal feed and milk powder — are currently depressed.

Gaunce says there's a glut of such proteins partly because Canadian factories don't have enough capacity to process those proteins into products people want.

The industry is also bracing for more competition from global imports under the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.