Ferme JPB Fils SENC failed to obtain relief from a milk-collection suspension after four penalties, in a February 13, 2026 ruling by the Régie des marchés agricoles et alimentaires du Québec.
The farm did not dispute excessive somatic-cell counts from May to November 2025. It changed milking practices and equipment and investigated possible causes. It blamed the final failure on an isolated cooler breakdown outside its control; December 2025 and January 2026 results complied.
An interim December 5, 2025 order deferred suspension pending the decision, conditional on delivered milk meeting the contractual standards.
The rolling calculations matter. Under article 7.07, a monthly penalty is triggered when there is an infraction in the current pay period and at least 40 per cent of results breach the somatic-cell limit of 400,000 per millilitre over the rolling three-month period including that month. Four penalties in a rolling 12 months trigger at least six production days without deliveries. An improved batch does not erase that accumulated record.
Resumption requires more than waiting six days. Conditions include a tank-milk test meeting cell-count, bacterial and freezing-point standards, no detected inhibitors, a working temperature recorder, operating procedures and a corrective-action plan. A specialist must have checked the milking system and method within six months; the producer must commit to monthly individual-cow cell counts for at least a year.
Les Producteurs de lait du Québec opposed relief. They cited prevention and deterrence: results arrive after delivery, and suspension requires safeguards before collection resumes. They said the breakdown followed prolonged non-compliance.
The mechanism, also set out in the earlier Goutel decision cited by the panel, anticipates that milk may be compliant when collection stops the following month. The quality obligation requires the specified result, rather than merely reasonable care; fault is not decisive.
The exemption power is discretionary. Under the Goyette principles applied in JPB, the applicant must establish an exceptional situation. Relief must remain consistent with the statute, the joint marketing plan and producers’ collective interests. It cannot rewrite the agreement, bypass its objectives, prioritize an individual advantage, retrospectively regularize a situation or correct past business choices. If granted, it must be confined in duration and can carry conditions.
The Régie found no exceptional circumstances: equipment can fail in any dairy operation. The farm’s efforts did not displace its quality obligation. An exemption would circumvent the standards or rewrite the agreements.
Decision 13060 dismissed the application and repeated an invitation to replace wasteful disposal of compliant milk, without ordering reform.
