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The purpose of this paper is to identify the structural problem in the Chinese dairy sector. There exists a large number of low‐efficiency, small‐scale farms, and productivity inequality between small and large farms keeps increasing, which is a possible driving force behind the Melamine scandal in 2008.

Using the stochastic frontier production function, this paper estimates and compares the changes in technology and technical efficiency between backyard, small‐scale, medium‐scale and large‐scale dairy farms in China over the period between 2004 and 2008.

There are compensating effects between technology and technical efficiency. However, low yield for backyard farms is mainly caused by traditional low‐yield varieties, even though the technical efficiency is very high, which cannot compensate for the low technology.

The author put the assumption of constant return to scale mainly due to the data availability. Such an assumption implies that there are no scale‐effects between the different scales in productivity, and the productivity difference is explained by technology and technical efficiency.

In order to solve the structural problems, Chinese governments should help small‐scale farmers to adopt new high‐yield varieties, to subsidize small‐scale farmers, and to train farmers to master the complicated skills for raising high‐yield varieties.

The paper gives another possible explanation for the Melamine scandal of milk powder in 2008. If the structural problem cannot be solved, similar food safety scandals could happen once again.

The purpose of this paper is to present an econometric model to empirically analyze the influence of production patterns and transaction style on raw milk quality. More specifically, the paper examines the effects of these institutions on both nutrition and safety aspects of raw milk quality.

Using data collected from 396 households in Inner Mongolia, this paper adopts a multiple linear regression model (OLS/FGLS) and a zero-inflated Poisson regression model to test two hypotheses proposed according to theory and descriptive analysis.

The empirical results indicate that both production pattern and transaction style significantly affect raw milk quality. Production pattern has a more significant effect on raw milk nutrition, while transaction style has a more significant effect on raw milk safety.

Current government policies focus on reducing household production and regulating private milk collection stations. From a comprehensive quality perspective, these policies are not effective in that they cannot guarantee raw milk safety and have little effect on improving raw milk nutrition. Alternatively, promoting dairy farmers' specialized cooperatives may be a more effective policy measure.

In contrast to other studies, this paper adopts a comprehensive quality perspective that examines both nutritional and safety characteristics rather than focusing on any single quality indicator, separately analyzing the factors influencing raw milk nutrition and raw milk safety. Therefore, the conclusion of this paper provides a new perspective in addressing the current raw milk quality problems facing China's dairy industry.

One of the objectives of smart village is the efficient use of regional resources by local people to improve economic, social and environment conditions. Small-scale dairy farm (SDFs) exist in every village of India, contributing significantly to local economy and welfare of few families. The purpose of this work is to develop a mechanism to make SDF not only efficient but effective in operations.

A systems thinking approach is used to identify the variables influencing a SDF and develop a general framework – RAMHI (resources, alternate revenue, manpower, herd and infrastructure) comprising endogenous and exogenous variables. A representative SDF as a case study was chosen to implement RAMHI and assess its implementation feasibility and economic benefits.

Implementation of RAMHI gradually improves the economic benefits of a SDF. The key performing indicators like average milk produced/day; milk revenue/fodder cost; number of successful artificial insemination (AI) of herd/number of AI of herd; milking cow/dry cow; and milking cow/total cow, increased substantially in two successive years.

The literature reported and discussed individual variables influencing functioning of SDF while there are few conceptual frameworks proposed, comprising not more than three variables. This paper not only presents a comprehensive generalized framework – RAMHI, which comprises five variables like resources, alternate revenue, manpower, herd and infrastructure but also explains the implementation strategy and its benefits using a case study.

In recent years consumers in Belgium have shown a great interest for foods from the short supply chain. The difference with the conventional chain is that in the short supply chain the primary products are locally processed and sold directly by the producer to the consumer. The short supply chain has different microbiological quality and safety aspects in comparison with the conventional chain. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate these aspects.

The methodology consists of analyzing the available scientific literature and results of microbiological analyses on foods from the short supply chain.

The main findings were that Listeria monocytogenes was frequently detected (15 percent) in sampled raw dairy products whereas Salmonella was not isolated in 1,023 samples. Human pathogenic vero (cyto) toxin-producing Escherichia coli and Campylobacter spp. are potential hazards, in particular for products that are not thermally treated. Data with regard to E. coli counts showed a greater variability in products from the short supply chain compared to the conventional chain.

The paper discusses strengths and weaknesses with impact on microbial quality and safety in operation of food safety management in the short supply chain vs the conventional chain.

This is the first paper that assesses the risks from the short supply chain vs the conventional chain and that makes recommendations for operators in the short supply chain.

This study analyzes the factors which affect the alfalfa cultivation acreage in China and estimates the development of alfalfa planting by the supply model.

Based on the characteristics and actual conditions of alfalfa cultivation in China, a naïve empirical model was created to analyze the impact of various influencing factors on the cultivation acreage of alfalfa.

The analysis of influential factors shows that China's alfalfa planting conforms to naïve price behavior. The prices of alfalfa and per capita arable land occupancy have a positive effect on the cultivation acreage, while the price of competitive crops and transportation costs have a negative effect on the production of alfalfa. Lastly, the 2012 alfalfa subsidy policy has a significant negative impact on alfalfa cultivation acreage.

Due to the limited research on alfalfa supply in China, there is a lack of available research data and statistical data. A large number of data in this study are mainly indirect data derived and calculated from other industrial data. The measurement results may not be fully accurate.

This study represents the first empirical analysis of the characteristics of the factors influencing alfalfa cultivation acreage in China. The secondary data were used to analyze the influence of various control variables on the cultivation acreage of alfalfa, which is different from existing research.

This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of dairy farmers about climate change in dairy farms in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

The study was conducted following a cross-sectional research design (Bryman, 2012). The study was conducted mainly on dairy farms located on the south-eastern part of the Eastern Cape province in five districts out of the province’s six districts (Figure 1). These districts include Amathole, Chris Hani, OR Tambo and Cacadu; these regions were not included in a recent surveying study (Galloway et al., 2018).

In all, 71.7% of dairy farm workers heard about climate change from the television, and 60.4% of participants reported that they gathered information from radio. Eighty-two out of 106 (77.4%) correctly indicated that climate change is a significant long-term change in expected weather patterns over time, and almost 10% of the study participants had no clue about climate change. Approximately 63% of the respondents incorrectly referred to climate change as a mere hotness or coldness of the day, whereas the remainder of participants correctly refuted that definition of climate change. Most of the study participants correctly mentioned that climate change has an influence on dairy production (92.5%), it limits the dairy cows’ productivity (69.8%) and that dry matter intake of dairy cows is reduced under higher temperatures (75.5%).

The use of questionnaire to gather data limits the study, as respondents relied on recall information. Also, the sample size and study area limits use of the study as an inference for the excluded parts of the Eastern Cape Province. Also, it focused only on dairy farm workers and did not request information from beef farmers.

This study imply that farmers without adequate knowledge of the impact of climate change keep complaining of a poor yield/ animal productivity and changing pattern of livestock diseases. Hence, a study such as the present one helps to bridge that gap and provide relevant governing authority the needed evidence for policy changes and intervention.

Farmers will begin to get help from the government regarding climate change.

This a first study in South Africa seeking to document the knowledge of dairy farm workers about climate change and its impacts on productivity.

This article aims to focus on the issue of privatization movement in the agro‐food sector, in the light of the Turkish Dairy Industry Enterprises (TSEK) case, and the effects on the sector following privatization. In order to make an appropriate evaluation, the background of the privatization movement and the general structure of the dairy sector in Turkey are examined first.

After a brief evaluation, the privatization process of TSEK and its effects on the sector are discussed in the light of the results of empirical data that obtain from the ANOVA model.

It has been concluded that the liberalization process has been adopted without the setting up of market regulatory policies, thus, the price balance in the dairy sector has changed to the disadvantage of both producers and consumers, while market concentration has increased and regional differentials have become more apparent.

This article may be relevant for other countries where privatization or liberalization movement in the agro‐food sector is in process.

Research on buyer‐seller relationships in the agricultural sector receives little attention. A growing body of evidence suggests that strengthening buyer‐seller relationships fosters more efficient supply chains. Much of the long‐term relationship literature tends to treat suppliers as a homogeneous group when identifying motivations, strategies and incentives to enhance the quality of buyer‐seller relationships. This article aims to explore the role of long‐term relationships between buyers and sellers in Malaysia's dairy industry, taking into consideration the heterogeneous nature of producers.

The study examines variation in relationship quality (trust, satisfaction, and commitment), loyalty and price satisfaction dimensions, using data from a survey of 133 dairy producers.

Cluster analysis suggests two well‐defined groups differing in terms of demographic characteristics and relationship perceptions about their buyers.

The study results highlight ways milk buyers can develop and promote more appropriate and efficient marketing strategies with milk producers.

This study provides evidence of producer relationship segmentation in an agricultural industry of an emerging economy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the significant supply chain issues in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) food industry. The objectives are to identify the major themes and the dynamic evolution of SME food supply chain (FSC) issues, the current research trends, the different modelling approaches used in SME FSC, and the most addressed SME food sector.

In all, 3,733 published articles from 2002 to 2018 in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science database were collected, from which 1,091 articles were shortlisted for the review. The authors used bibliographic coupling combined with co-word analysis to identify the historical relations of the research themes that emerged during the periods 2002–2014 and 2002–2018.

This research identified five major research themes such as production and distribution in alternative food networks, relationship, safety and standards in the FSC, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission impact of the farm food system, traceability and product quality in FSC and asymmetric price transmission in the FSC. Among the identified themes, GHG emission impact of the farm food system and traceability and product quality in the FSC have received increasing attention in recent years. The dairy sector is the most addressed sector (36 per cent), followed by fruits and vegetables (27 per cent), meat and poultry (18 per cent), seafood (10 per cent) and grains and oilseed (8 per cent). It is also identified that the dairy sector has received significant attention in the “GHG Emission impact of farm food system” theme. Similarly, meat and poultry sectors have received much attention in the “Traceability and product quality in the food supply chain” theme. Also, the authors identified that the empirical modelling approaches are the most commonly used solution methodology, followed by the conceptual/qualitative methods in the SME FSC.

This study maps and summarizes the existing knowledge base of supply chain issues in the SME food sector. The results of this review provide the major research areas, most commonly used approaches and food sectors addressed. This study also highlights the research gaps and potential future research direction.