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Azores dairy represents 30% of Portuguese production. The farms are dominated by family nature and a relevant part of them are an exclusive source of the producer's income. Nowadays, the milk production has some problems due to the falling prices of milk on the producer and the European milk quotes abolishment. This situation requires the assessment of the Azorean dairy farms efficiency as a way to rationalize the use of the factors of production for the milk production. The aim of this research is to estimate the Technical Efficiency (TE) in two different groups of farms, of which the used criteria were to earn incomes exclusively from farm (Full-Time Farmer, FTF) or to have another complementary source of income (Partial-Time Farmer, PTF). The farms database was provided by a farmers' association and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was chosen for modelling TE estimation. The main findings show the inexistence of substantial differences in the farms performance with or without complementary sources of income (0.679 for PTF and 0.689 for FTF). However, the most efficient farms are related with the main source of income.

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R E S U M OA situação económica das explorações leiteiras dos Açores está a atravessar dificuldades devido à liberalização da produção de leite na Europa. A pecuária açoriana necessita de se preparar para esta mudança sendo prioritário o melhor conhecimento dos fatores que influenciam a produtividade e/ou rentabilidade agrícola. Este trabalho apresenta um modelo de regressão linear múltipla que relaciona o rendimento das explorações com as características técnico-econó-micas, produtivas e morfológicas de 91 explorações de São Miguel, com dados de 2010.Verificou-se que existe uma forte correlação e um efeito significativo entre a produção de leite aos 305 dias e a pontuação final resultante das classificações parciais de carateres descritivos primários das primíparas (r=0,748). O mesmo se passa na produção de gordura (r=0,673) e proteína (r=0,731), em igual período. O modelo de regressão linear múltipla, com R 2 =0,736, estabelece que a venda de leite, os custos (alimentação, salários, rendas) e as cabeças normais, todos por unidade de superfície, têm efeito significativo no rendimento do empresário e família por hectare das explorações leiteiras. Conclui-se ser necessário melhorar a qualidade morfológica das vacas leiteiras, para aumentar a produção de leite, proteína e gordura, permitindo um aumento da venda de leite por hectare. Palavras-chave:Açores, leite, morfologia, regressão, rentabilidade. A B S T R A C TThe economic situation of Azores dairy farms is experiencing difficulties due to the liberalization of milk production in Europe. The Azorean cattle raising has to adjust to this changes and the enhancement of knowledge regarding productivity and profitability factors seems to be the priority. This paper presents a multiple linear regression model which relates farm incomes to the technical-economic, productive and morphological, in 2010, of 91 farms of the island of San Miguel.Based on the developed procedure, a strong correlation was observed and a significant effect milk production between 305 days and the final score resulting from the partial primary descriptive classifications of characters of primiparas (r=0.748). The same is true in the production of fat (r=0.673) and protein (r=0.731) in the same period. The multiple linear regression model with a R 2 = 0,736 shows that milk sales, feeding, salary and rent expenses, and animal density, all by area unity, have a significant effect in dairy farms profitability. The conclusions pointed that for an increase of milk sales per hectare it is necessary to improve the morphological quality of dairy cows, to enhance milk production, protein and fat.