provides a good product, and may be worth saving, said the agricultural economist hired by Government to report on the industry's health.

"What you have on Bermuda is a dis-economy of size,'' Dr. Thomas Spreen of the University of Florida, Gainesville, told The Royal Gazette .

So to measure the industry by sheer numbers does not work, he said: "You have to look at the intangibles. I don't know if it's a viable industry; that depends on what Bermudians want.

"It's certainly viable in it's present form; it's disease free; it's not causing any pollution; it's providing a good healthy product; it's just expensive.

"From an economic viewpoint, it doesn't make sense. But if you're willing to pay $3.50 for a half gallon of milk to see dairy cows, that's your business,'' said Dr. Spreen.

That Bermudians are willing to do just that however, is a key finding of the research team's 36-page analysis of the industry: "Based on information and testimony provided to the review team, there is overwhelming public support for the continuation of the embargo,'' they write.

Environment Minister Irving backed the findings.

"I think the industry forces us to retain open spaces and helps us to remember our (agricultural) heritage,'' he said. "I would hate to think that our children could grow up thinking that milk comes only from a plastic container on a refrigerated shelf.'' The study's finding of overwhelming support however, is based on very thin slice of Bermudian public opinion, Dr. Spreen conceded.

"The Ministry (of Agriculture and Fisheries) advertised for public input, and other than (wholesale company owner Jim) Butterfield, everyone who came in literally pleaded for the dairy farmer.'' But the study team only heard from ten people over two mornings, and of those, said Dr. Spreen, some were (vegetable) farmers "looking at what could happen to their own industry if the embargo for the dairy farmers was removed''.

The study team then resorted to asking people on the street and found a mixed reaction; those employed in the food service industry generally came down against the embargo and slammed the quality of Bermuda's filled milk.

Other "run-of-the-mill'' folks were inclined to support the industry, seeing it as a way of preserving what was left of Bermuda's pastoral heritage, said Dr. Spreen.

Copies of the report can be purchased from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for $5.

The public can also let their Member of Parliament know how they feel, as the report will be tabled as a take-motion in the next session of the House of Assembly, said Mr. Pearman.