Federal Dairy Programs

Insights Into Their Past Provide Perspectives on Their Future Gao ID: RCED-90-88 February 28, 1990

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) changes in the dairy industry over the last several decades; (2) the evolution of federal dairy programs; and (3) how federal dairy programs have affected dairy supplies.

GAO found that, although the number of farms declined substantially: (1) milk production increased from about 100 billion pounds in 1930 to about 146 billion pounds in 1988; (2) dairy production patterns increased in southwestern states by nearly 60 percent; (3) increases in price supports created incentives for farmers to increase milk production despite accumulating dairy surpluses; (4) net government purchases of dairy products significantly increased from $251 million in 1979 to $2.6 billion in 1983; and (5) efforts to reduce milk surpluses achieved only temporary success.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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