Responding to change: Farming system resilience in a liberalized and volatile European dairy market

Thorsoe, Martin, Noe, Egon, Maye, Damian ORCID: 0000-0002-4459-6630, Vigani, Mauro ORCID: 0000-0003-2442-7976, Kirwan, James ORCID: 0000-0002-4626-9940, Chiswell, Hannah Marie ORCID: 0000-0003-4504-1319, Grivins, Mikelis, Adamsone-Fiskovica, Anda, Tisenkopfs, Talis, Tsakalou, E, Aubert, Pierre-Marie and Loveluck, William (2020) Responding to change: Farming system resilience in a liberalized and volatile European dairy market. Land Use Policy, 99. Art no 105029. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105029

Preview

Text (Peer-reviewed version) 8640-Maye-(2020)-Responding-to-change-farming-system-resilience.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0. Download (617kB) | Preview

Abstract

For more than two decades market conditions for European producers have changed significantly due to liberalization and increasing price volatility. The objective of this article is to analyze how farming systems in five European countries (Denmark, Greece, France, Latvia, and the United Kingdom) have reacted to the emerging instability of the milk market. Dairy production is an ideal setting to study how different farming systems respond to changing conditions as a number of policy changes have altered market conditions for producers. Empirically, the analysis draws on statistical data on dairy production and farm structure, and qualitative and quantitative data from case studies in the five countries. During the period under study, dairy farming systems have operated under the same overarching EU regulation, but dairy sectors at the national level followed specific pathways. We found different strategies and institutional arrangements deployed to address price volatility at the national levels. We argue that divergence in the strategies developed to address this disturbance reflects different configurations of value chain organization (particularly dairies), production factors (production facilities and biophysical conditions), and market orientation. Increasing market volatility implies that succession planning and attracting investments is difficult for farming systems across all countries, and thereby to formulate strategies for resilience.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Milk quota; Farming systems; Food system governance; Dairy sector; Farmer strategies; Market liberalization
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD2321 Industry S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > Countryside and Community Research Institute
Research Priority Areas:	Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User:	Rhiannon Goodland
Date Deposited:	18 Aug 2020 10:18
Last Modified:	30 Dec 2021 08:00
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/8640

University Staff: Request a correction | Repository Editors: Update this record