title: Impact of policy-induced structural change on milk quality: evidence from the Flemish dairy sector.
abstract: This paper uses a Markov chain model to analyse the dynamics in farm-size distribution among the Flemish dairy sector and the impact of quota policy regulation on such changes. The model predicts a decline of 24% in number of farms in 2014 compared with the current situation with a more liberal exchange policy and a decline of 18% with a restricted quota exchange policy. From these Markov chain model results, we analysed the impact of farm-size distribution on eight different milk quality parameters (total bacterial count, somatic cell count, coliform count, freezing point, urea-N, fat content and protein content and penalty-points). In general, larger farms produce higher quality milk than smaller farms, especially with respect to the microbiological parameters (total bacterial count, somatic cell count and coliform count). The change in farm-size distribution from a liberal quota exchange policy would decrease the average total bacterial count by 18.0%, the somatic cell count by 2.1% and the coliform count by 11.0%. The aggregate performance of the other parameters are smaller with improvements in all cases of <1%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium. Bart.vanderstraeten@ugent.be
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Van der Straeten
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buysse
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Van Huylenbroeck
authors.forename: Ludwig
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lauwers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001530:Belgium; D002417:Cattle; D003612:Dairying / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D008390:Markov Chains; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology / Q000592:standards*; D018803:Models, Economic