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In this fourth Babcock Institute country study, Ireland's dairy industry was selected because (a) it reveals advantages and challenges associated with a pasture-based production system that is unique in the EU, (b) the country's dairy industry provides an excellent case study of the effects of milk production quotas, (c) the country's dairy sector faces challenges because of its dependence on exports, and (d) Ireland's dairy processors have made innovative use of joint ventures and foreign direct investment. The study describes different facets of Ireland's dairy industry, discusses key elements of the competitive environment, and provides implications for the U.S. and world dairy industries.

In the second edition of the Babcock series of in depth analysis of the dairy industry of one country, Poland was selected because it is the largest dairy producer of the ten countries admitted into the European Union in 2004. The dairy industry in Poland has been restructuring since the 1990s and the breakup of the Soviet Union. This study includes information on the political economy of Poland, descriptions of dairy farms and processing sectors, and assessment of the strategic behavior of major dairy firms in Poland.

The Chinese dairy industry is growing rapidly. Since 1980, the rate of increase in dairy cattle in China's dairy industry (+210,000 cows per year) is 1.7 times higher than the rate of decline of dairy cattle in the US dairy industry (-124,000 cows per year). If the current trends do not change, there will be as many dairy cows in China as in the US-approximately 7.45 million cows in 2012. This two-part Discussion Paper presents the context in which the Chinese dairy industry is developing (Part I) and a study of the Dairy Farm systems and case studies of five farms in the Province of Yunnan, the city of Beijing and the province of Heilongjiang (Part II).