Higher Intensity,Higher Profit? Empirical Evidence from Dairy Farming in New Zealand

Over the last two decades there have been significant and well‐documented changes in the nature and structure of New Zealand dairy production. One particular feature has been a marked shift in the ‘input intensity’ of dairy farming systems through increased use of supplementary feed. These changes have generated debate about the impact of dairy farm intensity on the performance of farm businesses and the competitiveness of the New Zealand dairy sector. Using a novel econometric approach, we assess statistically the impact of three types of dairy farming systems on milk production and financial performance, using farm business data provided by DairyBase^®. Our empirical results show that higher input systems perform significantly better physically than lower input systems, but not financially. The disaggregated analysis suggests that the average treatment effects differ by region and performance quantiles.     

The factors influencing the profitability of leased land on dairy farms in Ireland

The Republic of Ireland possesses a land market that is constrained by minimal sales each year, less than 1%. In an effort to capitalise on milk quota abolition and to increase dairy production, a suite of tax incentives has recently been introduced in the Republic of Ireland to encourage land mobility and long-term leasing among Irish dairy farmers. Using Irish Farm Accountancy Database Network (FADN) data from 2011–2017 to examine this, a Heckman sample selection model explores two aspects; (i) the factors that influence a farmer’s decision to rent, or continue renting, land and (ii) the profitability of dairy farmers renting in land. We find self-selection into the rental market is driven by farm traits that include a high level of hired labour, the presence of a successor, intensive farming practices and dairy discussion group membership. The results show that rental agreements assist farms in achieving economies of scale. The findings provide evidence to support government intervention such as tax incentives for renting out land and knowledge sharing discussion groups.     

The role of dairy company policies in support of farm green infrastructure in the absence of government stewardship payments

Intensive dairy farming has substantial impacts on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Determining how to mitigate them while increasing production is driving the quest for sustainable milk production internationally. Green infrastructure (G.I.) provides private and public ecosystem services, including mitigation of farming environmental impacts. However, there are implementation barriers among farmers. New Zealand government supports farmer self-regulation as long as farmers meet environmental targets. Farmers are neither compensated for reducing environmental impacts, nor for setting aside G.I. in support of nature conservation. Dairy companies are under increasing pressure to ensure socially acceptable milk production practices among farmer suppliers. They may play a role in encouraging farmers to implement G.I. as a way of helping farmers meet regulatory compliance, and best farming practice. Using a content analysis of company policies, the role of dairy companies in encouraging G.I. among farmers is explored. Results indicate companies are concerned about the effects, and perception, of poor environmental farming practices on their profitability, and have developed some riparian G.I. policies, with government and farmer support. However, policies are farm-focused and are limited to one year, and thus lack the capacity to encourage G.I. in support of key ecosystem services, such as water cleansing and support for indigenous biodiversity that require landscape scaled networks and longer periods. Even at the farm scale, a majority of companies lack policies that encourage significant G.I. networks. Policies suggest companies, and by extension farmers, lack sufficient motivation to protect or restore them voluntarily. Under these conditions, significant G.I. is unlikely to develop under self-regulation, unless supplemented through motivating government stewardship payments.     

分光光度法测定乳粉中胆碱含量的不确定度评定

根据《婴幼儿食品和乳品中胆碱的测定》测定乳粉中胆碱的含量,建立分光光度法测定乳制品中胆碱的不确定度数学模型,通过分析其测定的过程,确定影响结果的不确定度的主要分量来源,进行逐一分析并计算,评定出测量结果的合成标准不确定度和扩展不确定度。通过探讨这类测定方法的不确定度计算方法和步骤,建立一种简单、适用的测量不确定度的评估方法。     

读乃誉公日记手稿三题

仅就作者所见乃誉公日记手稿及手稿具有的个性化特征作了初步研讨。提出手稿之传世,因日记主人的特殊身世和身份,除了具有清人日记普遍意义上的史料价值,更有特定的文献意义和研究价值。乃誉公日记杂著不仅因其人其学本身而存在学术意义,还因为作者与静安先生的父子关系而产生更多附加值,具有许多可以开发的研究空间。     

Productivity and Producer Welfare in the Presence of Production Risk

Production risk is an inherent characteristic of agriculture and changes in production risk will affect the welfare of risk‐averse producers. Using standard concepts from the literature on uncertainty, we introduce a welfare measure which comprises total factor productivity (TFP), production risk and farmer risk preferences, and which reflects the impact on producer welfare of changes in production technology. An empirical application is carried out using data from a sample of Spanish dairy farms which shows how the positive impact of increases in TFP on welfare can be offset by increases in the risk premium (‘cost of risk’) to the point where welfare may decrease.     

Evolution and challenges of dairy supply chains: Evidence from supermarkets,industries and consumers in Ethiopia

In developing countries the demand for products of animal origin is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Using data collected from 200 urban households this study examines the evolution of the dairy market in Ethiopia. In particular, this study suggests that although the Ethiopian dairy market remains extremely thin and volatile, the commercialization of processed dairy products through supermarkets is expanding and is expected to keep doing so in the foreseeable future. Increasing urbanization and corresponding changes in consumer preferences, behaviour and purchasing power are the identified causes for the rise of supermarket-processor dairy chains. This study shows also that emerging dairy chains provide new market opportunities to Ethiopian farmers, but the existence of retail-industrial monopolies and monopsonies jeopardize farmers’ economic benefits to a great extent. The study concludes with some implications for policy and further research.     

The mixing ratio in the Indonesian dairy industry

The Indonesian dairy industry has been viewed by the Indonesian government as an industry that has the potential to improve the welfare of low income and landless farmers through providing them with an additional source of farm income. As well, the government sees the industry as a vehicle for providing opportunities for employment in rural areas. From an economy wide viewpoint, its development is viewed as a way Indonesia might save foreign exchange since a large share of its dairy requirements have to be imported. A variety of measures have been used to assist the industry. This paper investigates one of the measures, the BUSEP scheme or mixing ratio regulation which requires domestic processors to use Indonesian produced milk before imported milk.     

Assessing the Impact of Changing Economic Environment on Productivity Growth: The Case of the Spanish Dairy Processing Industry

This article analyzes the productivity growth of the Spanish dairy processing industry from 1996 till 2011, which concerns the period of increased EU regulation regarding food safety as well as economic crisis. Data envelopment analysis is used to compute the Malmquist index and its components. The results suggest that productivity on average declined during the period under investigation. The decomposition of the Malmquist index finds that technical regress contributed to productivity decline despite improvements in technical and scale efficiencies. Our results also suggest that food safety regulations did not have a negative impact on productivity growth. Technical change and scale efficiency change made significant negative contributions to productivity growth in the period under crisis, whereas firms significantly improved their technical efficiency in that period.     

基于微分博弈的乳制品供应链质量管理研究

考虑到合理的成本分担及公平的利润分配是影响乳制品供应链系统稳定及乳制品质量保证的重要环节,本文以一个乳制品加工企业、一个奶农(牧场)和一个零售商所构成的三级供应链为研究对象,引入微分博弈的方法,研究在4种不同的乳制品质量管理博弈情形下,乳制品供应链上各成员企业愿意为质量管理工作付出的努力及其收益.研究结果表明,乳制品加工企业的质量控制和质量改进两种工作的努力程度在3种非合作质量管理博弈情形下具有相同的表现,而在合作质量管理博弈情形下,为了供应链整体利益考虑,核心企业即乳制品加工企业的质量管理工作努力程度发生了变化.而对于乳制品供应链上游的奶农和下游的零售商而言,二者对于质量管理工作的努力程度随着乳制品供应链合作的深化而不断提高,在理想的合作博弈情形下达到了最高.