February 20, 2012

In just four years, Canada's milk production has increased to 33 million litres as compared to 2008 production of about 23 million litres of milk.

According to Elliott Currie, this type of expansion can definitely be seen as significant market growth. Currie is an associate professor in the Department of Business at the University of Guelph who focuses on technical marketing and market analysis. He recently discussed changing demands and opportunities in the goat market at the 2012 Grey Bruce Farmers Week.

Because the price of food is increasing worldwide, Currie suggested that consumer choices are going to change based on cost. And when it comes to cost per gram of different proteins, dairy and eggs are way below red meat.

"As the cost of food goes up, people will shift to other sources of protein. Goat milk and cheese will be desired options," he said.

Currie said he sees no reason for the goat milk market to decline any time soon. In fact, he foresees production increasing by another 5-10% over the next few years. Milk is not the only area of the goat industry that is expanding -meat production is also on the rise.

Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations show that no change in cattle meat trends occurred between 1999 and 2008. The same cannot be said for goat meat -it's seen a rise of 33% in 10 years. Currie remarked that that's a huge increase in a very short period of time.

The aging population will also play a role in growing the goat market. The average age in Canada today is 39 years old and studies have found that older people consume more cheese. So goat cheese consumption is expected to rise as the average age does.

New cultures entering Canada will impact the market too. Currie said about 20% of Canadians are now born outside of Canada and 40% of Toronto high school students have English as a second language.

There are over one million Muslims in Canada as of 2010 and many people are coming into the country from Mediterranean countries and tropical areas like Spain, Peru and Ecuador, where goat meat and milk are already staples.