Options Available for Action on the Austrian Milk Market
The European Commission intends not to continue the dairy regime beyond 2015, aiming for a gradual transition to a situation without a milk quota. Useful measures to this end are the reduction of limitations and steps to cut dairy producer prices in the EU. Key practical details of the dairy regime and quota system can be specified at a national level. The national netting out of quota quantities provided for in Austria provides an excellent starting point for a flexible adjustment. Austrian agricultural policy has a whole bundle of measures at its disposal, together with further measures outside the EU framework to facilitate structural adjustment of the dairy sector. Operations have a number of choices: cooperation at operational levels and within the Austrian dairy sector, improvement of in-house processes of dairy production and processes, product and process innovations, and more support for operations that withdraw from dairy production.