Federal regulations and programs have been crafted over the last 80 years to address the farm level markets for milk. These programs share the basic underlying motivations behind other agricultural policies and, likewise, rely on combinations of price support, income support, regulation of competition, product promotion and market development, and a complex system of grades, standards and quality criteria. The particular ways in which dairy policy is implemented end up being quite different from other agricultural programs, and these differences are driven by the physical, institutional and economic characteristics of milk and dairy markets. The Dairy Subtitle of the typical Farm Bill tends to focus on price and income programs, but all aspects of dairy policy are subject to the review and consideration of the Congressional agriculture committees, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and other regulatory agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 farm bill) was especially notable for dairy as it replaced existing price and income programs with the Margin Protection Program for Dairy Producers (MPP-Dairy).
Organization |
Choices Magazine |
Publisher |
Agricultural and Applied Economics Association |
Publication Views |
732 |
Material Type |
Written Material |