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

Step 1. What this program offers

Intake period: Closed

The intake period for the Dairy Direct Payment Program is now closed.

The Government of Canada has announced its commitment to provide compensation for supply-managed sectors for the impacts of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Additional details are expected to be made available in the spring of 2023.

The objective of the Dairy Direct Payment Program is to support dairy producers as a result of market access commitments made under recent international trade agreements, namely the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

In 2022-2023, $468 million will be made available up to March 31, 2023 in the form of direct payments. To receive a payment, registrations must be signed and received no later than March 31, 2023.

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

In August 2019, the federal government announced that it will make available $1.75 billion to supply-managed cow's milk producers. Up to $345 million, $468 million and $469 million in direct payments was made available in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively.

National allocation of funds on a provincial basis for year 2022-23
National allocation of funds on a provincial basis Allocated Quota
(% of the P10 Rounded)
Provincial share $
(Rounded)
Newfoundland and Labrador 0.64% $2,988,160
Prince Edward Island 1.27% $5,945,931
Nova Scotia 2.17% $10,148,979
New Brunswick 1.69% $7,909,652
Quebec 36.98% $173,046,200
Ontario 32.08% $150,134,669
Manitoba 4.31% $20,168,781
Saskatchewan 3.09% $14,450,635
Alberta 8.86% $41,,468,818
British Columbia 8.92% $41,738,176
Total 100% $468,000,000

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