ABSTRACT
In the second half of the 20th century, the Irish dairy industry -in common with the experience of agriculture throughout developed market economies—has been subject to restructuring processes arising from what some writers have termed the second agricultural revolution (Healy and Ilbery 1985) but which Bowler (1992) more correctly refers to as the third such revolution. This involves “the progressive extension of technological, organisational and economic rationality into the arena of farm operations, linking them even more closely to the other sectors of the economy, both materially and in ethos” (Wallace 1984, quoted in Healy and Ilbery 1985: 2). The specific outcomes of this rationalisation process have been summarised by Bowler (1992) under the three headings: intensification, concentration, and specialisation.
