Capitalisation of the SPS into Agricultural Land Rental Prices under Harmonisation of Payments

As the 2013 Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) calls for the harmonisation of Single Payment Scheme (SPS) payments, we estimate the implications of this mandate on agricultural land rental rates over time as Germany began harmonising payments in 2010. Using Bavarian farm‐level panel data we find strong capitalisation effects that increase substantially in the years following 2009. On average, the marginal effect on rental rates of an additional SPS euro is 37 cents, growing over time to 53 cents as harmonisation develops.     

The Impact of the 2013 CAP Reform on the Decoupled Payments’ Capitalisation into Land Values

We assess the effects of the 2013 CAP reform on the capitalisation of decoupled payments in land rental values. Our estimates suggest that the reform leads to an increase in the capitalisation of decoupled payments by an additional 18 cents for each Euro of decoupled payments relative to the pre‐reform situation. However, there is an important variation in the reform effects between Member States (MS) particularly between Old Member States (OMS) and New MS (NMS). In NMS, the capitalisation rate slightly reduces from 83% in the pre‐reform period to 79% in the post‐reform period. Although, the rate is significantly lower in OMS, it doubles (from 21% to 43%) due to the reform. The main sources of the post‐reform capitalisation in the European Union (EU) are the pre‐reform capitalisation accounting for 69% of the total post‐reform capitalisation, followed by the entitlement stock change with 19%, by the internal convergence of payments with 18%, the budget change (including external convergence) with 1%, and the differentiation of payments (redistributive payment) with ?7%. Overall, our estimates suggest that on average in the EU, the non‐farming landowners’ policy gains are 27% of the total decoupled payments in the post‐reform period compared to 18% in the pre‐reform period.     

The Incidence of EU Per‐Hectare Payments on Farmland Rental Rates: A Spatial Econometric Analysis of German Farm‐Level Data

This article analyses determinants for 2001 farmland rental prices from 3,819 farms in Germany. Based on specification tests we estimate a general spatial model to account for both spatial relationships among rental prices of neighbouring farmers and spatially autocorrelated error terms. A €1 per hectare higher rental price in a farmer’s neighbourhood coincides with a €0.72 higher rental price paid by the farmer. The marginal incidence of EU per‐hectare payments paid for eligible arable crop land on rental rates amounts to €0.38 for each additional €1 of premium payments. Regional livestock density, which is indirectly influenced by different policies, is also a major determinant of rental prices. Results are confirmed by sensitivity analyses. Consequently, German farmland rental rates are heavily influenced by agricultural policy instruments and therefore, these policies exhibit substantial distributional effects.     

Public support effect on natural disaster management: A case study of ice storms in forests in Slovenia

In the last decade Slovenia has experienced more frequent natural disasters in forests. The most severe and widespread one that affected Slovenian forests, which cover more than a half of Slovenian territory, was a large-scale ice storm in early February 2014. This study aims to investigate the effect of the public support on the recovery of forest farms affected by the 2014 ice storm. Analyses focus particularly on the ability of Slovenian forest farms’ income recovery in a short-time period. The economic resilience of forest farms in the absence of forest disaster payments due to the absence of legal certainty for disaster aid in 2014 and 2015 provides an interesting framework for identifying the income effect of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments. The Farm Accountancy Data Network has been used with applied statistical and regression methods to estimate the public support effect on selected woodland area size samples. Results suggest a positive effect of CAP payments on farm income recovery. The magnitude of the effect is high and significant for the less favoured area and disaster payments that were given for farm production loss in the 2013 drought. Although the magnitude of the effect is weak, investment payments show a significant positive effect on farm income recovery for all studied forest farm samples.     

The Effects of Direct Payments on Technical Efficiency of Irish Beef Farms: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis

The 2003 Mid‐Term Review of the CAP sought to refocus the EU's farm support policy to foster a more competitive and market‐orientated agricultural sector. The foundation of this reform comprised the introduction of decoupled payments to farmers, replacing the EU's previous system of supports that were directly linked to production of designated crops and livestock. This paper explores the effect of coupled payments and their subsequent replacement by decoupled support, on the technical efficiency of specialist beef farms in Ireland. Given the high reliance of beef farmers in Ireland on CAP payments, the decoupling of payments has been especially important for the sector. A stochastic production frontier is estimated using a panel dataset comprising detailed accountancy data for Irish beef farms between the years 2000 and 2013. Our results indicate that technical efficiency in the beef farming sector has been consistently poor, with an average efficiency score of only 0.53 during the period analysed. However, we found that direct income received in the form of coupled payments had a positive impact on farm efficiency, and that this positive effect was maintained after their replacement with decoupled income support.     

The trade distorting effects of export refunds: The case of beef exports to Africa

The usual sale of European agricultural products to Africa using export refunds has been heavily discussed in recent decades. At the centre of the discussion are the consequences on the agricultural producers in Western and Southern Africa. There are two different points of view: On the one hand, the European Union's (EU) export policy reduces the prices on these markets and relieves high burdens on local producers; on the other hand are claims that refunds do not influence local prices significantly. Hence, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has no effect on markets of third countries, besides depressing world market prices. This paper focuses on the effects of EU's export subsidies for beef exports on its market share in several developing countries. Twenty-seven African countries were analysed using a fixed-effects model between 1988 and 2000. The results clearly show a highly significant positive impact of the export refund rate on the market and the import share. With its export policy, the EU raises its market position and edges out other competitors.     

Territorial management contracts as a tool to enhance the sustainability of sloping and mountainous olive orchards: Evidence from a case study in Southern Spain

The continuity of farming in traditional sloping and mountainous olive production systems (SMOPS) is at risk, especially in marginally productive areas. The abandonment of olive production on sloping lands would have adverse economic, social, environmental and cultural effects. To tackle this risk of abandonment and to improve the sustainability of traditional SMOPS, we propose the Territorial management contracts (TMC) of rural areas. The potential of this instrument to be specifically applied to organic olive production systems on sloping lands is assessed. The paper then summarises the results of a survey of Andalusian farmers in sloping and mountainous areas aimed at identifying key characteristics of the TMC with the potential to enhance its uptake in target farming communities. Results show that farmers are well-disposed towards TMC, and that issues such as flexibility and external advice need to be considered for its successful implementation. From a policy perspective, the instrument is well aligned with the objectives of the last reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).     

The Impact of Direct Income Transfers of CAP on Greek Olive Farms’ Performance: Using a Non‐Monotonic Inefficiency Effects Model

We analyse the impacts of direct income transfers on the technical efficiency of Greek olive farms. We use a production frontier function and a non‐monotonic inefficiency effects model, which incorporates the influences of exogenous variables (subsidies, farm characteristics, etc.) on technical efficiency. The model is applied to 1995–2004 FADN data. The results show that direct transfers of the CAP had a negative and monotonic effect on technical efficiency, whereas the degree of specialisation had a non‐monotonic effect on technical efficiency.     

The Role of the Common Agricultural Policy in Enhancing Farm Income: A Dynamic Panel Analysis Accounting for Farm Size in Italy

As a multi-objective policy, the EU Common Agricultural Policy continues to secure significant income support for farmers as one of the nine specific objectives. We estimate the income transfer efficiency of a broad set of pivotal policy measures, focusing on the effects of farm structure on income transfer efficiency. We use dynamic modelling, based on a micro-data panel of Italian farms for the period 2008–2014, allowing for endogeneity, simultaneity bias, and omitted variables. In line with previous studies and economic expectations, we find that decoupled direct payments provide the highest contribution to agricultural incomes, followed by agri-environmental payments and on-farm investment subsidies. Coupled payments have no significant impacts on farmers’ income. Generally, for all analysed Common Agricultural Policy measures, large farms benefit from greater transfer efficiency levels compared with medium and small farms. These differences among instruments and across farms suggest that policy-participation costs may play a pivotal role, together with the economic structure of farms, in determining the income transfer efficiency of CAP policies.     

The heterogeneous farm‐level impact of the 2005 CAP‐first pillar reform: A multivalued treatment effect estimation

This article aims to evaluate the impact of the 2005 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on farm production choices as a treatment effect (TE). This impact is measured through alternative metrics of the short‐term changes of the output vector. The heterogeneity of the response to the reform is assessed by estimating both average and quantile TE. As this heterogeneous response may depend on the different farm‐level CAP support, a multivalued treatment approach is adopted and applied to treated units (i.e., supported farms). This approach is applied to a balanced panel of Italian FADN farms observed over years 2003–2007. Results show that the 2005 reform of the first pillar of the CAP actually had an impact in (re)orienting short‐term farm production choices but this response is largely heterogeneous and concentrated in the lower levels of support.     

农民土地所有权认知与农地制度创新——基于1995—2008年实证研究文献的统计分析

研究目的：探索农民土地所有权认知的动态变化及其内在机理,提出与之相适应的农地制度创新模式。研究方法：文献资料法,统计分析法。研究结果：农民对于土地所有权的认知与法制教育无关,与外部力量的干预高度关联。研究结论：农民土地所有权认知不是现行法律文本意义上的宣传教育的结果,而是农民作为认知主体自主建构土地产权象征意义的过程。新一轮农地制度创新要赋予农民永久期限的土地使用权和对抗外部干预的救济权,以保证农地使用权的长期稳定,促使农民在长期稳定使用权的基础上建构起象征意义的土地所有权认知。