By LEE MIELKE
Mielke Market Weekly 

The United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations on Monday (Oct. 5) agreed to the largest regional trade accord in history, a potentially precedent-setting model for global commerce and worker standards that would tie together 40 percent of the world’s economy, from Canada and Chile to Japan and Australia.

Expect months of debate in Congress and a new topic for upcoming presidential debates.

Dairy was one hang-up to concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks. which have been going on in Atlanta. Two weeks ago, CBC News reported that "Canada is preparing to open its border to more American milk without getting reciprocal access for Canadian dairy farmers in the U.S." But the Dairy Farmers of Canada’s Yves Leduc warned of war, if that’s the case: "The industry will never accept that."

Reaction from the National Milk Producers Federatiion on Monday: "As expected, details of the agreement were not immediately available. Transparency requirements under the Trade Promotion Authority legislation passed by Congress earlier this year, however, require the full text of the agreement to be released shortly. NMPF and USDEC will carefully review the agreement’s dairy provisions in the coming days."

RealAgriculture.com, with a Canadian focus, said Monday the deal includes new Canadian market access of 3.25 percent for dairy (with a significant majority of the additional milk and butter being directed to value-added processing), 2.3 percent for eggs, 2.1 percent for chicken, 2 percent for turkey and 1.5 percent for broiler hatching eggs. A $4.3 billion set of programs has been created to help supply-managed producers through the transition over the next 15 years

"We obviously would have preferred that no additional market access be conceded in the dairy sector," said Wally Smith, president of Dairy Farmers of Canada on Monday. "However, we recognize that our government fought hard against other countries’ demands, and have lessened the burden by announcing mitigation measures and what seems to be a fair compensation package, to minimize the impact on Canadian dairy farmers and make up for cutting growth in the domestic market. We have come a long way from the threat of eliminating supply management. The government has clearly understood the importance of supply management dairy farms in rural Canada and the economic activities they generate."

"The organizations expressed deep appreciation to the numerous members of Congress who have conveyed the importance of a successful dairy market access outcome during the years of negotiation, but in particular, during the closing negotiations this week."

Mielke Market Weekly will, of course, have continue to report on this in coming weeks.