Milking It for all It’s Worth: Difficulties from Long-Running Structural Changes in the Dairy Industry

New theme of articles released in Choices

The U.S. dairy industry has recently attracted national attention. The country as a whole lost over 10,000 licensed dairy farms in 2017. It is common to read news of dairy farms having to sell their milk cows and dealing with the consequences of losing their livelihood and tradition of lifestyle. In the recent much-publicized renegotiation of the NAFTA trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, President Trump called dairy “a deal breaker.” The newly re-drafted NAFTA (renamed USMCA) will, if approved by Congress, allow the American dairy industry somewhat easier access to the Canadian market.

In a new theme collection of articles released in Choices Magazine, “America’s Dairy Industry Facing Difficulties from Long-Running Structural Changes,” examine the current situation, focusing on structure, marketing arrangements, and marketing stresses.

Articles in the theme:

• Dairy Sector Consolidation, Scale, Automation and Factor Biased Technical Change: Working through “Get Big or Get Out”
  Hongli Feng, David A. Hennessy, Yanan Jia, Melissa G.S. McKendree, and Christopher A. Wolf
• Does Revenue Diversification Improve Small and Medium-Sized Dairy Farm Profitability?
  Curtis L. Mahnken and Joleen C. Hadrich
• Regional Values for Milk Are Changing
  Mark W. Stephenson and Charles F. Nicholson
• Disorderly Marketing in the Twenty-First Century U.S. Dairy Industry
  Andrew M. Novakovic and Christopher A. Wolf
• New California Milk Marketing Regulations Will Not Change Economic Fundamentals
  Daniel A. Sumner

If you are interested in setting up an interview with authors from any of the above articles, please contact Allison Scheetz in the AAEA Business Office.

ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes two journals, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices. To learn more, visit www.aaea.org.

Contact: Allison Scheetz
Senior Communications Manager
(414) 918-3190
Email: ascheetz@aaea.org