"supply does not exceed demand" This is a misrepresentation of the microeconomics at play. However much milk is produced, it will all get consumed, because th

"supply does not exceed demand" This is a misrepresentation of the microeconomics at play. However much milk is produced, it will all get consumed, because there is a massive demand for Milk, it would just be at very low prices, possibly below the cost of production. Supply management is better described as price fixing - the amount produced will enable the product to yield a certain price at a certain demand, and therefore be economically viable. " shoppers will still frequently just buy whatever's cheapest." - if they knew one product was superior to another, i.e. if the ostensibly efficient market which relies upon information clearing actually worked ... then the dynamics of the market would help solve these problems. This can be communicated through brand awareness, labelling, all sorts of things. Yes, as you point out, it's an issue basically everywhere because food production, like banking, telecoms, entertainment etc. - is a highly protected industry.