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The announcement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in June 2012 raised speculation about dire consequences for the dairy sector and the end of supply management. We examine these claims in the context of tariff liberalization and the transmission of volatile international dairy prices into the Canadian market. The paper examines the implications for dairy farmer welfare, quota values, and the welfare of other agents in the economy. Given that the US dairy industry has interests of its own to protect, significant dairy tariff liberalization is not expected. With modest tariff reductions, the impact on quota values will be minimal. Likewise, the overall decline in producer welfare will also be small. Therefore, supply management, as a marketing institution, is likely to survive the TPP, but marketing boards may have to change their pricing policies in response to tariff reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study measures the magnitude of transaction costs incurred by milk producers in their contractual relations with dairy processors in two different coordination mechanisms: centralized contracting through a marketing board and decentralized bilateral contracting. Interviews and surveys were conducted to estimate transaction costs faced by producers marketing through the Québec milk marketing board in Canada and bilateral contracts in England and Wales in the United Kingdom using the measurement methodology of the cost of exchange. Our results show that the relative magnitude of transaction costs incurred by producers across both settings is quite low, which indicates that both hybrid coordination mechanisms minimize transaction costs in the dairy sector. However, results from the bilateral contracting setting indicate a strong heterogeneity of transaction costs levels among farmers. In that respect, the milk marketing board and its institutional setting would act as a collective insurance, pooling transaction costs and sharing them among producers. Our analysis leads to recommendations on bilateral contracting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current function of the Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) raises important public policy issues that have implications for wealth redistribution, administrative law, and civil liberty. The CDC's purported economic relevance in Canadian society serves as a facade for a short-sighted management approach that is devoid of the rudiments of a market mechanism. In order to suggest future public policy developments, an exploratory field survey was conducted and results are presented in this paper. Although the results do not infer that Canadian consumers are discontented with dairy prices in Canada, our evidence shows that consumers know very little about the processes behind marketing milk in Canada, especially with the price setting powers of the CDC. This study indicates that future policies should address this lack of consumer awareness. As global dairy markets evolve, policies designed to protect against domestic and foreign competition will most likely become less effective. Protectionist policies can be detrimental to a country's long-term prosperity as opportunities for new products, adoption of new technologies and faster responses to consumer demands are squandered. The study's limitations and implications for practice and future research are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looks at the changes in agricultural marketing policy, with reference to the influence of these changes on marketing board structures in Canada. Role of marketing boards; Reference made to the NFPMA Act, (National Farm Product Council Act), which was amended in 1993; Challenges to the legality of Canadian marketing boards; Details on the 1949 Agricultural Products Marketing Act.

Provides an overview of the development of Canadian marketing boards and assessment of their situation. Legislative specifications for marketing boards; Similarity of the development of marketing boards in Canada to that of other countries; Dual jurisdictional authority over agriculture and marketing.

Examines the effects of a supply management marketing board on agribusiness in Canada. Impact of the Ontario Chicken Producers' Marketing Board on the integration activity in the country; Effect of marketing boards on gross margins; Major area influence of a marketing board.

Examines the impact of marketing boards on agricultural market performance in Canada. Examination on the success of marketing boards in reducing market instability; Distinguishing feature of institutional arrangements in the Canadian food system and farm and food policy; Conclusions.

Canadian provincial hog marketing boards act as sales agents for hog producers. The hypothesis that the introduction of marketing boards in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan between 1969 and 1972 created seller side market power is tested and supported: their hog prices rose to levels comparable to Ontario where a marketing board had been in place. Organized sellers can also influence pricing dynamics because of the linked spatial oligopsonistic nature of the hog packing industry. Cointegration tests and variance decompositions indicate that establishing boards in the surplus producing western provinces made them relatively less isolated from pricing innovations in deficit producing eastern Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with the economics of production control in Canada. Description on provincial marketing boards and programs of production control; Discussion on the production control of Ontario flue-cured tobacco; Effect of production control on the combination of resources used in production.

Comments on an article on the impact of marketing boards on the agricultural market stability in Canada. Some of the questions raised on the feasible alternatives to marketing boards; Analysis of what might happen if the Canadian boards were to follow a pattern similar to the State of California marketing orders; Structure of the Canadian food system.

Comments on a study about the effects of marketing boards on the agribusiness sector in Canada. Concerns on the reliability and accuracy of the survey; Institution of marketing boards in the country between 1960 and 1971; Comparison of wholesale prices for broilers in Ontario and the United States.