Impact of the abolition of the milk quotas system on the productive structure of dairy cattle farms in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia (Spain)

Milk quotas were introduced in the former European Economic Community in 1984 as a mechanism to prevent overproduction of milk because of support measures for the dairy sector. The quotas system was removed on 1 April 2015. In order to analyse the possible impact of this decision to remove the milk quotas system on dairy farms in Andalusia (Spain), a comparison was made of a time series of the data in the databases of the public administrations. The variables used were dairy production per cow and year, the number of cows per farm and dairy production per farm and year. The period 2010-2019 was considered, establishing two strata: 2010-2014 (period with milk quotas in force) and 2015-2019 (post quotas period). From 2010 to 2019, the number of dairy cattle farms in Andalusia decreased by 29.8 %, milk production increased by 25 % and the average farm size increased by 23 %. During the 2015-2019 period after withdrawal of milk quotas, milk production per cow and year, the number of cows per farm and milk production per farm and year increased significantly (P