Dairy Direct Payment Program: Step 1. What this program offers

Step 1. What this program offers

Intake period: Open

The 2023-24 intake period for the Dairy Direct Payment Program is now open.

Program objective

The objective of the program is to support dairy producers as a result of market access commitments made under recent international trade agreements.

Funding

Starting Fall 2023, the program will make available $1.2 billion over 6 years to account for the impacts of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Under the program, eligible dairy producers receive payments on the basis of their milk quota.

Upcoming payments

In 2023-24, $300 million will be made available up to March 31, 2024 in the form of direct payments to eligible supply-managed cow’s milk producers. For example, an eligible producer with 80 cows could receive around $26,500 in 2023-24. To receive a payment, registrations must be signed and received no later than March 31, 2024.

In the next 5 years:

  • $250 million will be made available in 2024-25
  • $250 million will be made available in 2025-26
  • $150 million will be made available in 2026-27
  • $150 million will be made available in 2027-28
  • $100 million will be made available in 2028-29

Eligible producers must register every year of the program to receive a payment.

National allocation of funds on a provincial basis for year 2023-24

National allocation of funds on a provincial basis Allocated Quota
(% of the P10 Rounded)
Provincial share $
(Rounded)
Newfoundland and Labrador 0.64% $1,907,228
Prince Edward Island 1.27% $3,816,483
Nova Scotia 2.17% $6,514,271
New Brunswick 1.69% $5,076,926
Quebec 37.02% $111,072,244
Ontario 32.12% $96,366,142
Manitoba 4.29% $12,880,256
Saskatchewan 3.08% $9,228,514
Alberta 8.83% $26,482,959
British Columbia 8.89% $26,654,977
Total 100.00% $300,000,000
Past direct payments

From 2019-20 to 2022-23, the program made available $1.75 billion in compensation for the impacts of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Up to $345 million, $468 million, $469 million, and $468 million in direct payments was made available in 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively.

How the program is delivered

The Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) delivers the program. The CDC will:

  • collect information from provincial milk marketing boards on the licensed quota holders
  • calculate individual payments based on the percentage of each producer's provincial quota holdings
  • work closely with each of the provincial milk marketing boards to deliver funding