European Dairy Farmers’ Perceptions and Responses towards Development Strategies in Years of Turbulent Market and Policy Changes

Abstract

Farmers operate in a changing market, policy and social environment so questions arise as to how they experience these changes and react in their business orientation. This topic was examined in the period 2011 to 2016 in a strongly fluctuating product market and food policy environment, e.g., abolition of milk quotas in Europe. The study was based on unique panel data for 290 dairy farms in Poland, Slovenia, Lithuania and The Netherlands, questioned up to three times in 2011, 2013 and 2016. The conceptual framework was composed of Farmer goals, Resources, Opportunities and Threats (O&T), and Future expectations (performance) as continuous variables, and countries and strategy farmer groups as categorical variables. Data were analysed applying PCA, ANOVA, cluster and regression analyses. Dairy farmers seemed not to be motivated or educated to take strategic decisions that made the best use of their resources and to take opportunities and mitigate threats to achieve their personal goals. Farmer perceptions were strongly affected by country of origin, local environment and milk price, and less by the strategy group. The market situation is one of the dominant factors affecting the mind-set of farmers in Europe. Future expectations were evaluated highest in 2013 (period with ‘high’ prices), lowest in 2016 (price crisis) and intermediate in 2011 (moderate price period). The large dependence of farmers on the price of their product could be a sensitive issue for politicians, but also food chain members and farmers’ syndicates. They may anticipate a fluctuating attitude of farmers with respect to organisational and institutional plans and implemented measures, depending on the market situation and related policy context.

Productivity and Efficiency in European Milk Production: Can We Observe the Effects of Abolishing Milk Quotas?

“…Finally, Areal et al [26], applying a Bayesian stochastic frontier analysis on English and Welsh farm data from 2000 to 2005 to investigate the relationship between milk quotas and technical efficiency, supported the idea that abolishing the milk quota leads to a more competitive market for milk, which forces the least-efficient farms to leave milk production. The abolition of a milk quota brought a high expectation for farmers [32]. Its elimination has had an effect on the whole dairy sector [33,34].…”

Return on Equity in Dairy Farms from Selected EU Countries: Assessment Based on the DuPont Model in Years 2004–2020

“…Farmers after 2015, without the threat of paying a penalty for not having a milk quota, were able to increase their milk production. Dairy farms that had sufficient land resources necessary for roughage production increased the scale of milk production quite rapidly [27,28].…”

Quantitative Research on Profitability Measures in the Polish Meat and Poultry Industries

“…A limited number of socio-economic investigations have been conducted on the profitability of the meat and poultry industries [36]. Undoubtedly, the value chain has moved from the farmer towards a retailer [37]. Along with other researchers [38], several authors have also found that the overall economic value of farmers' and meat and poultry processors' work are significantly less than the achieved production and costs incurred [39].…”