Future Structure of the Dairy industry: Historical Trends, Projections and Issues

R.B. 2003-01The livelihood of farmers, processors and others connected with the U.S. dairy industry will be determined to a great extent by the future structure of the industry. At the same time, the investments made by farmers and processors will depend, in part, on the expected structure. This publication reports an effort to collect and synthesize information on the changes that have taken place in the dairy industry, project the structure of the industry under the assumption that current trends continue, and then discuss the factors that might cause the industry to evolve differently from that suggested by current trends. Finally, some ideas on how to alter the evolving structure are introduced