'It just keeps going up': How rising milk prices are affecting the cost of dairy

The cost of milk is going up again.

On Feb. 1, the Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) increased the "farm gate milk price" by 2.2 per cent.

And with higher milk prices come similar increases for products that use it as an ingredient.

Before every pizza goes into the oven at Calabria Market, it is buried in a mountain of cheese.

A mountain that is becoming more costly to build, said CEO Cathy Wozny.

"Oh my god!  It just keeps going up!  It's getting a little hard to make these beautiful recipes and still use the amount of cheese that we have to put in our recipes," she said.

The increasing price of cheese is directly related to the price of milk, which has gone up 13 per cent since last February.

Wednesday's price increase was the third hike for milk in the last year.

Food Fare owner Munther Zeid said they have no wiggle room when it comes to pricing.

"Milk, yogurt, cheese, it goes up.  Once one goes up, they all go up!  Will it ever go down?  It would be amazing to see," Zeid said.

CDC CEO Benoit Basillais said the increases are needed to help dairy farmers who are dealing with serious inflationary pressures.

"It's a very tough situation that producers are faced with.  Everything is going up.  The feed they buy is more expensive because the fuel went up," said Basillais.

David Wiens, chair of the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba said the raising of milk prices was critical for his operation.

"Without these increases it would have been awful out here.  And we would not have our heads above water as we do now," said Wiens.

Wozny said Calabria Market is not willing to sacrifice quality by reducing the amount of cheese it uses. But she said it doesn't feel right raising her own prices.

"It's just not possible.  How high can you go on a pizza," she said, adding that they will just have to eat the price increase themselves.

The CDC said raising milk prices can't be the only solution, so it is looking for more international markets where Canadian milk can be sold.