UC Santa Cruz

In environmental circles there are frequent calls to reduce livestock agriculture as a means of improving sustainability of the food system. These appeals are placed upon—and indeed, frequently enflame—an already contentious relationship between environmental communities and livestock industry actors. In this dissertation I peel back some of the layers of this conflict via a focus on California dairy production. California dairy is an important player in recent state efforts to mitigate climate change, so the tense relationship between this livestock agriculture sector and environmental initiatives warrants attention. Understanding the variety of forces at play in the ongoing tensions can help to identify new strategies for mitigating livestock’s environmental impacts. In particular, this research brings attention to social, political, and economic drivers of surplus production as important components of the conflict, underscoring the need for supply management as a solution to both environmental and economic concerns in the industry. It also highlights the potential for new governance policy arrangements to circumnavigate some of the existing tension and implement new environmental initiatives to mitigate climate change.