The 1985 farm bill created the whole herd buyout program in response to falling milk prices. In Ireland, a potential buyout program is being considered to address climate change. The two programs are different in many respects – one was to adjust the market, the other is to help achieve environmental goals, but on the other hand, both are similar in a sense in that they are major interventions into the market that did (in the US) and will (in the EU) have unintended consequences. Markets, like nature, abhor a vacuum.   Under the U.S. whole herd buyout – officially known as the Dairy Termination Program (DTP) – the goal was to cut milk production by 9 percent (12 billion pounds at the time). It began in April 198...

TAGS – Europe