How Local Dairy Communities Can Compete in the Global Marketplace

Abstract

For several years, the US government has been lowering its price supports on dairy products. The result has been a relatively good balance nationally between supply and demand. However, some seasonal shortages of local and regional supplies of milk are beginning to emerge. As deregulation continues, communities will be forced to take actions to ensure an adequate local supply of milk and to rationalize the systems of production, processing, and marketing. To address issues of competitiveness and capacity, it is useful to view the dairy community as a socioeconomic unit composed of several systems and subsystems that together compete with other communities for segments of the global market. These systems involve complex interrelationships and multiple disciplines. The community has both place and virtual characteristics. Some of the tools used to construct a world class dairy community from its component subsystems include community economic development, total quality management, strategic planning, and strategic alliances. The global information systems used to transfer technology to dairy communities are often urban based and come with urban values and points of view that can be inappropriate in a rural culture. If local dairy communities are going to be world class competitors, then the members of the local, virtual, and global communities involved must have an appreciation of the cultural differences. Successful dairy communities of the future will use production and information technologies and management systems to compete in the global marketplace.