Re-establishing a major dairy industry in the Imperial Valley is feasible, according to a special report by the Davis-based UC Agricultural Issues Center. Dairy production once was big business in California's southernmost desert valley. In the 1920s, 2,000 dairies had 100,000 cows in production. Today, however, there are only two dairies there, milking 2,000 cows. Rapid urbanization and environmental problems are pushing dairies out of Southern California's most important dairy region, the Chino Valley. The industry has relocated mostly to the southern San Joaquin Valley, but co-authors UC Davis Extension marketing economist L.J. (Bees) Butler and postdoctoral researcher Javier Ekboir suggest that producers may wish to look again at the Imperial Valley. New technology could keep cows cool and production up. The cost of the equipment, the authors say, could be offset by cheaper land and better feed sources. Higher transportation costs to processing plants could be offset by quota ownership, which provides the right to sell milk into the fluid milk market. For a copy of the report, call (916) 752-2320.