Analyses of the Dairy Security Act of 2011

Posted on October 25, 2011

Milk and feed price volatility has become a dominant issue for dairy producers. As we move toward 2012, the dairy industry and members of congress are considering the policy options that would help address these issues and live within new federal budget constraints. Similar bills are being discussed in both the House and the Senate.

We examine those bills in three short papers. One which explains the major provisions of the bills. A second which summarizes our analyses of market impacts of the provisions. And, a final document which summarizes our analyses of farm-level impacts of the provisions. All may be downloaded through the links above.

Since the initial publication of the three papers describing the analyses, we have had a number of questions about the recent model results relative to earlier analyses of the Foundation for the Future that we had done. This short response may help answer questions about the differences between our earlier work and this more recent effort. Also, another paper describes the importance of the selection of the timeline horizon to measures of impact.