Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-89).Changing economic realities in the dairy industry have profoundly affected the viability of the dairy farming community in Wisconsin. In addition they face mounting local opposition to dairy modernization and expansion, and an increased regulatory burden. This survey looks at ten farms in the Dairy Gateway counties and the broader trends in the industry, and reveals incongruities with neo-classical economic theory. An ecological economics framework is then applied in an attempt to better explain what it happening in the Dairy sector and to support policy directions that might lead the dairy community back towards both economically and ecologically sustainable land stewardship.by Ian James Finlayson.M.C.P
