The editors of the "German Journal of Agricultural Economics" ("Agrarwirtschaft") are planning the publication of a special issue under the topic:

Milk Production and Dairy Markets: Structures, Strategies and Policies

Background

Worldwide markets for milk and dairy products are under considerable change. Markets in Southeast Asia are growing rapidly. In the European Union market policy instruments will be used considerably less to support dairy market prices. Intervention prices for butter and skim milk powder have been reduced and the future of the dairy quota system is strongly contested. Mergers and acquisitions (for instance, Campina and Friesland), the emergence of regional clusters and new forms of organizing supply chains are changing the dairy landscape. International trade is undergoing a transformation, international competitiveness is gaining in importance, and environmental concerns about dairy farming are growing.

The editors of the special issue invite researchers in the fields of agricultural economics, business administration, and the social sciences to present their research on one of the following topics or in related fields:

* Structures: Concentration on different levels of the value chain, emergence of regional clusters, changing horizontal and vertical organization of supply chains, etc.

* Strategies: Growth, internationalization, specialization, branding, etc.

* Policies: CAP reform, environmental impact of dairy production, international trade and markets, international competitiveness, etc.

Contributions

Authors who would like to contribute to this special issue are requested to send a full paper (maximum 20 pages, English or German, Times-Roman, 12 pt, spacing 1.5, for details see www.agrarwirtschaft.net or contact the editors) until 31 October 2008. Final acceptance will be decided based on peer-reviews by 15 January 2009. The special issue will be published as number 5/6, volume 58 (July 2009) of this journal.

Please send contributions to

Prof. Dr. Ludwig Theuvsen / Prof. Dr. Achim Spiller
Georg-August University of Goettingen
Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development
Platz der Goettinger Sieben 5
37073 Goettingen, Germany
phone: +(49) - 551-39 48 46, fax: +(49) - 551-39 46 21
e-mail: theuvsen@uni-goettingen.de