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Wed 23 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 24 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 17.30

Fri 25 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 26 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

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Wednesday 23 April 2014 14.00 - 16.00
V-3 RUR03 History of the Emergence of the Modern Dairy Industry
Hörsaal 48 second floor
Network: Rural Chair: Carin Martiin
Organizers: Markus Lampe, Eoin McLaughlin, Paul Sharp Discussant: Carin Martiin
Markus Lampe : The Productivity and Efficiency Effects of Revolutionary Change in Agriculture
Truly revolutionary changes to an industry are extremely rare. Even rarer is to have high quality micro-level data documenting such an episode. The late nineteenth century Danish agricultural revolution, which saw the modernization and rapid growth of the dairy industry, was one such episode. Moreover, data exist which allow us ... (Show more)
Truly revolutionary changes to an industry are extremely rare. Even rarer is to have high quality micro-level data documenting such an episode. The late nineteenth century Danish agricultural revolution, which saw the modernization and rapid growth of the dairy industry, was one such episode. Moreover, data exist which allow us to use the tool of modern agricultural economists, stochastic frontier analysis, to estimate production functions for milk and thus identify the determinants of these productivity and efficiency advances. We identify the contribution of modernization through specific new technologies and practices.
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Eoin McLaughlin, Ingrid Henriksen & Paul Sharp : Contracts and Cooperation: the Relative Failure of Irish Dairying Reconsidered
Why did the establishment of cooperative creameries in Ireland fail to halt the relative decline of her dairy industry compared to other emerging producers? And why did domestic cooperation struggle to establish dominance over incumbent proprietary operators? This paper compares the Irish experience with that of the market leader, Denmark. ... (Show more)
Why did the establishment of cooperative creameries in Ireland fail to halt the relative decline of her dairy industry compared to other emerging producers? And why did domestic cooperation struggle to establish dominance over incumbent proprietary operators? This paper compares the Irish experience with that of the market leader, Denmark. We document that an important difference was in terms of the implementation and enforcement of vertically binding contracts. The ability to form these contracts is considered to be of vital importance for the successful operation of cooperatives. This leads us to conclude that, although cooperatives were clearly a superior organizational form in Denmark, they possessed no institutional advantages for Ireland, which was thus unable to enjoy the full benefits of the modernization of dairying seen elsewhere.
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Paul Sharp : How the Danes discovered Britain: the Rise of the Danish Dairy Export Industry form the 1830s
By the late 1880s it is well known that Denmark was already a leading agricultural exporter. But how did Denmark manage to transform herself so very quickly? We argue that she did not. We provide quantitative and qualitative evidence that animal products made up an increasing share of Danish exports ... (Show more)
By the late 1880s it is well known that Denmark was already a leading agricultural exporter. But how did Denmark manage to transform herself so very quickly? We argue that she did not. We provide quantitative and qualitative evidence that animal products made up an increasing share of Danish exports to England from an early date, so that by 1875 they were already the most important export product. This was the result of a long-run process of first diversification and then reorientation of Danish agriculture, starting on certain estates that emulated Holstein dairy practice from the 1830s. We combine quantitative information such as trade data with an analysis of contemporary publications from German, Danish and British sources to trace the simultaneous process of the establishment of export dairies, the construction of new trade networks and steamship connections to England for direct export, and the discovery of the quality of Danish estate butter by British merchants and consumers. We observe that from the 1850s this model trickled down from the pioneering group of large estate owners, via packing firms and private creameries to medium landowners, and ultimately to the common farmer (or peasant) through the cooperative movement. The importance of Denmark for Britain’s industrial masses only became apparent after 1875. The importance of dairying for Danish agriculture, which made this supply possible, has a rather longer story. (Show less)



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