An economic analysis of production efficiency: Evidence from Irish farms

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate the economics of production efficiency of dairy farms, with a specific focus on the role of agricultural policy. Our analysis is based on a representative sample of Irish dairy farms, ranging from 2000 to 2018, which includes a period of major change in EU dairy policy. Based on a multi-input multi-output production system, we first estimate technical, allocative, scale and scope efficiencies. We find significant heterogeneity in technical and allocative efficiencies, which change over time. We also calculate shadow prices of milk quota, which suggest that milk quotas restricted many farmers and limited their ability to produce milk. Finally, we explore determinants of technical, allocative, scale and overall inefficiencies using random panel-data censored regression. We find that subsidies are positively associated with farm efficiency, but the effects vary over distinct quota abolition periods. Overall, our empirical findings indicate that agricultural policy had important effects on the managerial effectiveness of farmers.

Impact of age at first calving on performance traits in Irish beef herds

“…In addition to management, AFC is low to moderate heritability in beef cows ranging from 10% to 27% ( Heise et al, 2018 ; Brzáková et al, 2020 ; Shin et al, 2021 ). Although improvements in management on beef herds ( Martinez Cillero et al, 2018 ; Chavas et al, 2022 ) and genetic merit of AFC in beef heifers ( de Rezende et al, 2020 ; Twomey et al, 2020 ) have been observed, the AFC of beef cows is still higher than 24 mo in some beef herds.…”

What kinds of subsidies affect technical efficiency? The case of Italian dairy farms

“…Moreover, since the design of environmental aid is at the Member State's discretion, research is needed to further investigate whether and to what extent the ambiguous empirical evidence concerning this category of payments (with positive, negative, or nonsignificant effects, e.g., Chavas et al, 2022; Latruffe & Desjeux, 2016; Martinez Cillero et al, 2021) could be determined by national policy design, affecting the inherent tensions of these subsidies, between the drive toward efficiency and that toward sustainability.…”

“…Finally, Chavas et al (2022) carry out a multioutput (milk, calves, cattle, sheep, and crops) analysis of Irish dairy farms, over the period 2000-2018, adopting a two-step procedure. First, they estimate certain efficiency measures using a nonparametric approach, then they assess the relevance of certain determinants adopting a censored regression with random effects.…”

Efecto de la introducción de un proceso del perfeccionamiento en el sistema técnico–organizativo de una unidad lechera

“…La identificación de factores que optimizan la eficiencia productiva de las granjas lecheras es de gran importancia para aumentar la productividad y la rentabilidad y proteger el bienestar animal y el medio ambiente [1]. La eficiencia productiva se puede definir como una parte integral del uso de recursos escasos y de tecnología avanzada para mejorar la producción de alimentos para sustentar a una población mundial en crecimiento [2].…”