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Over 6 billion liters of Canadian milk wasted since 2012

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  • Elliot, Thomas
  • Goldstein, Benjamin
  • Charlebois, Sylvain

Abstract

Canada's dairy supply management system provides milk year-round but unnecessarily disposes of overproduction. A lack of transparent data on discarded milk means that the scale of this issue is unknown. This hinders actions to mitigate the potentially large environmental, economic and nutritional costs of avoidable, on-farm milk waste. Here we estimate the volume of surplus milk discarded on farms using a material flow analysis approach, and assess the related environmental and nutritional costs. By our estimates, over 6.8 billion liters of raw milk vanished from Canadian dairy farms since 2012 (totaling a value of $14.9 billion CAD). We calculate this is equivalent to 8.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions and enough milk for 4.2 million people (11 % of the Canadian population) annually. We suggest increasing transparency on the volume overproduction, reducing incentives for farmers to overproduce, and updating quotas to reflect shifting dietary needs as actions to align the Canadian dairy sector with broader food-system sustainability objectives.

Suggested Citation

  • Elliot, Thomas & Goldstein, Benjamin & Charlebois, Sylvain, 2025. "Over 6 billion liters of Canadian milk wasted since 2012," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:227:y:2025:i:c:s0921800924003100
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108413
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Elliot, Thomas & Levasseur, Annie, 2022. "System dynamics life cycle-based carbon model for consumption changes in urban metabolism," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 473(C).
    2. Colin A. Carter & Pierre Mérel, 2016. "Hidden costs of supply management in a small market," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(2), pages 555-588, May.
    3. Diana Ivanova & Konstantin Stadler & Kjartan Steen-Olsen & Richard Wood & Gibran Vita & Arnold Tukker & Edgar G. Hertwich, 2016. "Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(3), pages 526-536, June.
    4. Kempen, Markus & Witzke, Peter & Pérez Domínguez, Ignacio & Jansson, Torbjörn & Sckokai, Paolo, 2011. "Economic and environmental impacts of milk quota reform in Europe," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 29-52, January.
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