Industry Adjustment to Policy Reform – A case study of the Australian dairy industry

The Australian dairy industry has recently experienced a policy reform that involved the over-night removal of all price support mechanisms. It was an unusual event because policy changes are usually phased-in or announced with several years warning. In this case farmers had limited time to prepare for the effects of the reform. Consequently the Government provided restructuring assistance worth A$2 billion to help farmers adjust to the new market environment. This publication shows how farmers reacted to the effect of a substantial change in industry support.