Files
Abstract
Despite dramatic increases in retail demand for organic milk and steadily increasing organic
milk prices over the past 15 years, transition from conventional to organic dairy
production has been unsteady. In some years supply has not met demand, leading to
shortages of organic milk, and in other years organic dairy processors have been forced
to sell organic milk in the conventional market. Following the theory of investment under
uncertainty we estimate the organic transition response of dairy producers to feed and
milk prices while allowing for distinct regimes of investment, disinvestment, and inaction.
Using a threshold estimation technique developed for panel data we estimate the
threshold values that define these regimes. We find some support for a discontinuity in
the organic transition response, though a double threshold model, including a sluggish
transition regime, is rejected.