Milk production is up on P.E.I. because people are eating more butter

Dairy farmers are producing more milk these days on P.E.I.

That's because demand for butter is on the rise across North America.

But other trendssouth of the borderare causing farmers to be concerned.

At Wednesday'sannual meeting of Dairy Farmers of Prince Edward Islandin Summerside, producers heardmilk production in 2016 hit 109 million litres.

That's an increase of eight-and-a-half per centcompared to the year before.

Producers also heard concerns about trade relations with the U.S.under president Donald Trump.

Dairy farmers fear supply-management Canada's strict system of controls on pricing and production of milk will come under attack.

"We have been in negotiations with trade policy before ...and we've survived those and continue to prosper."

Rising demand for butter is part of the reason for concern.

For every pound of butter produced, there's skim milk left over as a byproduct.U.S. and Canadian farmers are finding themselves in a price war as they try to sell off excessive stock piles of powdered skim milk.

• Growing love of cheese prompts P.E.I. dairy expansion

At Wednesday's meeting, dairy farmers heard Canada has lowered its industrial skim milk prices to match the U.S.

At the same time, Canada is ramping up construction of new processing facilities to handle skim milk and other dairy products.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |P.E.I. has 2nd most affordable housing market in Canada: report
• MORE. P.E.I. NEWS |Vimy voyagers: P.E.I. students join tens of thousands of Canadian youth for 100th anniversary