A Canadian Teenager Wins Two Dairy Titles Amid Trump’s Trade War
Canadian success in Madison
Doiron, from Cap-Sante, Quebec, received the top award at the International Junior Holstein Show on behalf of Arolene Dempsey Ella, known as Ella. The five-year-old cow later won the title of Supreme Junior Show Champion, after Doiron presented her before a full arena. Doiron said she had helped raise Ella and had bought the cow back after her parents sold her.
The World Dairy Expo is a major event for dairy breeders and exhibitors. A prize there can increase an animal’s value by tens of thousands of dollars, while its future offspring may also command higher prices. Although the expo attracts participants from around the world, health and safety rules mean that the competitions are contested by animals from Canadian and American farms.
“She’s an easy cow to work with. We love her so much,” Doiron told CBC News. She said the result demonstrated the strength of dairy showing in Quebec. Canadian, American and Mexican flags were displayed in the judging arena, where cross-border competition and co-operation continued despite the trade dispute.
Trade tensions at the expo
Brian Carscadden, an executive senior manager and part-owner of Quebec-based Blondin Sires, travelled more than 1,500 kilometres from Saint-Placide to Madison with 25 cows. He said the company’s business had not yet been affected by the trade war. According to Carscadden, American acquaintances made occasional jokes and some pointed comments about the dispute, but it was not a frequent subject of discussion.
Some American farmers at the expo connected the trade conflict with higher living and production costs. Paula Lawver, a single mother from Indiana who describes herself as conservative but not Republican, called the dispute with Canada “nonsense” and said tariffs would affect her vote in the November midterm elections. Seth Muck, a New York farmer, said the cost of fertiliser had doubled from the previous year and that he was considering candidates with a more moderate agenda, although he retained hope that economic conditions could improve.
Retired Wisconsin farmer Gary Craugh described the conduct of both countries as “childish”, while another retired Wisconsin farmer, John Galgowski, said he was baffled by the dispute. CBC News reported that it did not find any Americans at the expo who supported the heated rhetoric surrounding the Canada-U.S. relationship.
Official defence of the trade policy
About 120 kilometres from the expo, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer addressed a meeting of G20 trade ministers in Milwaukee. Reading from prepared remarks, he defended the “America first” trade agenda and said American workers and their families were better off than before Donald Trump took office. The White House trade adviser Peter Navarro had also warned Canada against lobbying against the administration’s tariffs in border states, saying Canada would “pay even more dearly” if it did so.
Doiron’s awards came as the trade conflict remained a subject of discussion among farmers attending the expo. She said winning with Ella was especially meaningful because of her connection to the cow, whom she recalled liking for her spots when she was a child. After the final judging, Doiron and Ella represented the Canadian victory at the Wisconsin event.
