Taking Stock: Farmers' reflections on the deregulation of Australian dairying

On 1 July 2000 significant changes to the regulation of Australian dairying came into effect. These changes eliminated subsidies to milk producers and removed barriers to the inter-State trade of dairy products. Victoria's dairy industry group was a powerful proponent of deregulation, because o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian geographer 2002-03, Vol.33 (1), p.29-42
Main Authors: Cocklin, Chris, Dibden, Jacqui
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural economics
Australia
Australian Dairy Industry Council
Competition
Dairy industry
Dairy products
Dairying
Deregulation
Domestic Market Support Scheme (DMSS)
Economic Restructuring
Economics
Farmers
Geography
Industry deregulation
Land use
Regulation
Rural areas
Rural Communities
Rural conditions
Rural Land Use
United Dairyfarmers of Victoria
Victoria
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Summary:On 1 July 2000 significant changes to the regulation of Australian dairying came into effect. These changes eliminated subsidies to milk producers and removed barriers to the inter-State trade of dairy products. Victoria's dairy industry group was a powerful proponent of deregulation, because of the comparative advantage that the State's farmers have in production relative to Australia's other milk producers. However, the deregulation of the dairy industry was contested stridently by many stakeholders, particularly farmers and their representative groups in States other than Victoria. Even within Victoria some farmers were equivocal and some were opposed to the regulatory changes. This paper draws on interviews with informants in the Victorian dairy sector to reveal responses to the regulatory changes. The interviews indicate that opinion was divided before deregulation and remains so. The debate was largely between those who saw the regulatory changes as 'inevitable', some of whom thought it would be a 'good thing' and others who accepted, grudgingly, that it was simply going to happen, and those who thought there had to be alternatives that would avoid the expected adverse consequences.
ISSN:0004-9182
1465-3311
DOI:10.1080/00049180220124999