World´s 24 Biggest Agricultural Producers` Eco-Efficiency Considering Undesirable Outputs

Abstract

There is still a lack of studies, which are comparing the eco-efficiency of the world`s biggest agricultural producers, which affect the development of agricultural policy the most, not just EU countries. Therefore, the main goal of this article is to evaluate and compare the eco-efficiency of the world`s 24 biggest agricultural producers in time and space and verifying the hypothesis that all the biggest agriculture producers are eco-efficient. Due to the improvement of technologies, we expect a positive development of agricultural eco-efficiency during the time. Eco-efficiency of the world’s 24 biggest agricultural producers is computed for the years 2007 and 2017, using an output-oriented DEA model with two undesirable outputs. Data are obtained from FAOSTAT for the years 2007 and 2017. 15 countries have an eco-effective agricultural sector in both years 2007 and 2017 and could be considered as sustainable efficient countries. On average the agricultural eco-efficiency is decreasing over time. Based on the eco-efficiency values, the biggest agricultural producers are divided into three eco-efficiency agricultural groups – eco-efficiency leaders, eco-efficiency followers, and eco-efficiency laggards. According to the results, the research hypothesis that all the biggest agriculture producers are eco-efficient is not confirmed. Likewise, in general, technology improvement during time does not lead to a positive development of agricultural eco-efficiency.

Environmental and Economic Performance of Greenhouse Cropping in the Mediterranean Basin: Lessons Learnt from a Cross-Country Comparison

“…The research questions are answered by developing a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA; ISO 14040-14044:2006 [6,7]) and life cycle costing (LCC; ISO 15686-5:2017 [8]), which are performed in case studies of tomato greenhouse production (RQ1) by carrying out hotspot analysis through contribution analysis and external normalization (RQ2) and identifying the lessons learnt from previous steps (RQ1, RQ2) that may generate useful implications beyond the case study level (RQ3). Tomato was chosen as a representative crop as it is the most widely grown and consumed fresh vegetable in the Mediterranean region and is also extensively exported [9]. The primary data (years 2022-2023) refer to real-world greenhouses that are reasonably representative at the regional level in Tuscany (Italy), Almería (Spain), Monastir (Tunisia), and Antalya (Turkey).…”