Experience with the milk quota system in Switzerland

The individual farmers' reactions have been threefold; they have made requests for higher quotas; they have filled up the quotas where gaps were available; and they have changed their production structure. The last-mentioned reaction was characterized by a reduction in the number of cows, by the production of more fodder crops and by heifer production in the plain region. Traditional heifer-producers in the mountain area reacted with a higher milk and beef production. As a consequence, the division of labour between plain and mountain regions in milk and heifer production is diminishe