A review of U. S. dairy policy from the early 1900s through the 1980s exposes the changing nature of regulation in dairy markets. While dairy policy was originally legislated to stabilize markets and increase milk prices at the farm level, its focus in the 1980s shifted to the apparently chronic problem of surplus dairy products. This report reexamines the events during the 1900s that led to federal and state regulation of the dairy industry and describes the progression of dairy policy from the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act through the 1990 Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act.