Production Rigidity, Input Lumpiness, Efficiency, and the Technological Hurdle of Quebec Dairy Farms
2017
In this paper, we argue that (bilateral) auctions of production quotas induced a rapid convergence in
dairy farm size within provinces in the early years of Canada’s supply management policy and that this
effect was stronger in provinces with a larger number of dairy farms. This contributed to the smallness
and homogeneity of Quebec dairy farms relative to dairy farms in Western Canada. In Quebec, most
dairy farms still rely on the tie-stall milking system, while dairy farms in Western provinces are
larger and use larger-scale, lower-cost technologies. Regulations on Quebec’s quota exchange have
slowed down the pace at which a farm can acquire production quota, exacerbating the effects of
input lumpiness, on dairy farm efficiency. Low trading on the production exchange severely constrains
production adjustments, making, scale, allocative, and technical inefficiencies more persistent and
investment in herd expansion unprofitable.
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