The current sleeve for organic producers will come to an end on February 29, 2020 as a new sleeve period will begin on March 1, 2020. The following notice applies to all organic producers in production effective March 1, 2020.
Organic production requirements have increased effective March 1, 2020. Organic producers will receive a temporary 7% increase to their current quota holdings for the period of March 1, 2020 to August 31, 2020.
Producers are encouraged to participate on the quota exchange and purchase available quota up to a maximum of the allocated sleeve. If quota is purchased during this six-month period, the kilograms purchased will not be deducted from the existing sleeve. No priority purchases will be permitted.
Please note the following:
- A producer’s sleeve allocation for the current production period will be determined by the producer’s previous period’s sleeve production. The most recent available data will be used to calculate the sleeve utilization (i.e. the first 5 months of a 6-month period), since the sixth production month pool data is not available until the following month.
- The Board released an updated Specialty (Organic) Policy Guide with the organic industrial premium policy in a Notice to Producers on June 18, 2019. Please review this policy guide for complete understanding of organic sleeve calculations.
- The Board requests all organic producers who wish to participate in the production of this sleeve to commit in writing to Woody Siemens (wsiemens@bcmilk.com) no later than February 10, 2020.
- If organic producers choose to decline sleeve allocation during a specific period and/or accept the sleeve allocation and fail to produce the sleeve, the following will be the maximum allowable allocation of sleeve:
| Date | Scenario | Date | Maximum Allocation |
| Sept 1 | No sleeve produced | March 1 | 50% of available sleeve |
| Sept 1 | 100% sleeve produced | March 1 | 100% + additional available sleeve |
| Sept 1 | Partial sleeve produced | March 1 | 50% + sleeve utilization percentage over 50% |
Please note: Any unexpected sleeve increase during a six-month period will not be included in this calculation.
The Board will continue to review organic market requirements and will provide direction to the industry as needed.
If your farm makes an adjustment which changes the volume for milk pickups, please contact the BCMMB transport department prior to any changes. A change in your farms volumes can directly affect processor deliveries and can result in shortages for processor organic milk orders for that week.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Woody Siemens at 604-854-4476 or wsiemens@bcmilk.com