GUELPH — The province’s agriculture tribunal has turned down a demand by a group of mostly former dairy farmers for $15.8 million in compensation, of which about $4.2 million would have gone to a small group of dairy farmers who sold their quota. Another $11.6 million would have been paid to members who are still in the business.

The Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeals Tribunal turned down a demand by the Ontario Quota Rights Organization to compensate farmers for a Dairy Farmers of Ontario 2006 policy change that capped earnings from selling quota at $25,500 per kilogram. The main issue was that while the quota purchase price continued to climb, eventually breaking past $30,000, the DFO only paid out $25,500 and kept the rest. .

In its judgment the tribunal argued: "DFO has the legal authority to develop and adopt policies regarding dairy quota."

Interestingly, the DFO cancelled the transfer assessment last August and now holds a ceiling on quota price at $25,000 per kilogram

The judgment noted that the quota rights group was "content with a system in which buyers and sellers established quota prices on the quota exchange, with no restrictions on rising quota values." That by no means favours a free market system, as the quota system is already a barrier to entry.

The DFO policy change in 2006 that capped the quota price and introduced a transfer assessment created a storm of controversy across the province, especially in feisty eastern Ontario. The policy change was DFO’s way of grappling with what looked like a runaway and exorbitant price for quota. Between 1996 and 2006, the cost of dairy quota doubled from $15,000 to $30,000, turning it into a handsome pension plan for many farmers. Quota price peaked in July of 2008 at $33,805.

The tribunal heard from the following people on behalf of the quota rights group: Jacqueling Pemberton, Doyle Harrigan, Noelle Pasquier, Leonard O’Donoghue, Murray Little, Jeff Fremlin, John Cayer, Reg Presley, Nick van de Laar, Leo Imfeld, Peter Koch, Lucien Martel, Francois Lafrance, Laurier Lemieux, Walter Vandekemp, Elizabeth Brunsveld, Jacques Lamarche, Jean-Marie Menard, Alain Mallette, William Miller, Shirley Underwood, Christine Fenton-Stone and their expert witness Allan Mussell.

The quota rights group was represented by Ottawa lawyer Don Good, who specializes in agriculture.