Growth of milk production in German dairy farms: an empirical study based on event history analysis

This article investigates determinants of growth of milk production in German dairy farms with the use of event history analysis. This methodology enables the analysts to consider time as a proxy for not measurable effects on growth. The likelihood of a farm's moving from a nongrowth episode into a growth episode is estimated and the impact of various covariates on that likelihood is assessed. The analysis is based upon a balanced panel of annual farm accounts from 616 specialized dairy farms in Germany, covering the financial years 1995/1996–2008/2009. The results from event history analyses are presented for low and high growth rates. For both groups, it was found that the probability of entering a growth episode, defined as the event to be analyzed, increases over time, e.g., as a consequence of an increasing need to improve competitiveness. Moreover, several covariates, such as the share of subsidies in returns, farmer's age, and milk price, had a significant impact on growth in a farm's milk production. The analysis revealed, however, that the effect‐direction of some explanatory variables differed between the two groups.     

Total factor productivity change in hog production and Quebec's revenue insurance program

Quebec's hog industry is supported by a revenue insurance program that guarantees a minimum price, but it also faces strict environmental constraints. Under price volatility, risk-averse farms may contract their output enough to produce under increasing returns. We show that the subsidy and downside risk reduction effects of the revenue insurance program tend to stimulate output and increase the likelihood of production under increasing returns. Environmental constraints that raise the cost of manure management and limit areas under cultivation also increase the likelihood of decreasing returns. Scale efficiency and technical efficiency measures are obtained through a parametric decomposition of total factor productivity (TFP) obtained from the estimation of an output distance function. As in hog studies pertaining to other countries, we found a TFP average annual growth of 5.2% between 2004 and 2012. Scale efficiency is much lower than in other countries, as per our prior about the program's distortions and environmental constraints. Integrating annual TFP gains into the setting of the minimum guaranteed price could reduce program costs by $12 million per year. About $70–80 million per year could be saved by investing in extension activities that would bring increase the level of technical efficiency of inefficient farms to the provincial average. A metatechnology frontier approach allowing for an endogenous input was also implemented to assess the robustness of the scale efficiency results.     

Can technology help achieve sustainable intensification? Evidence from milk recording on Irish dairy farms

This article explores the potential of a farm technology to simultaneously improve farm efficiency and provide wider environmental and social benefits. Identifying these ‘win-win-win’ strategies and encouraging their widespread adoption is critical to achieve sustainable intensification. Using a nationally representative sample of 296 Irish dairy farms from 2015, propensity score matching is applied to measure the impact of milk recording on a broad set of farm sustainability indicators. The findings reveal that the technology enhances economic sustainability by increasing dairy gross margin and milk yield per cow. Furthermore, social sustainability is improved through a reduction in milk bulk tank somatic cell count (an indicator of animal health and welfare status). Conversely, milk recording (as it is currently implemented) does not impact farm environmental sustainability, represented by greenhouse gas emission efficiency. While the study shows that milk recording is a ‘win-win’ strategy, ways of improving current levels of utilisation are discussed so that milk recording achieves its ‘win-win-win’ potential in the future.     

A new methodology to measure efficiencies of inputs (outputs) of decision making units in Data Envelopment Analysis with application to agriculture

This paper aims at developing a new methodology to measure and decompose global DMU efficiency into efficiency of inputs (or outputs). The basic idea rests on the fact that global DMU's efficiency score might be misleading when managers proceed to reallocate their inputs or redefine their outputs. Literature provides a basic measure for global DMU's efficiency score. A revised model was developed for measuring efficiencies of global DMUs and their inputs (or outputs) efficiency components, based on a hypothesis of virtual DMUs. The present paper suggests a method for measuring global DMU efficiency simultaneously with its efficiencies of inputs components, that we call Input decomposition DEA model (ID-DEA), and its efficiencies of outputs components, that we call output decomposition DEA model (OD-DEA). These twin models differ from Supper efficiency model (SE-DEA) and Common Set Weights model (CSW-DEA). The twin models (ID-DEA, OD-DEA) were applied to agricultural farms, and the results gave different efficiency scores of inputs (or outputs), and at the same time, global DMU's efficiency score was given by the Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (Charnes et al., 1978) [1], CCR78 model. The rationale of our new hypothesis and model is the fact that managers don't have the same information level about all inputs and outputs that constraint them to manage resources by the (global) efficiency scores. Then each input/output has a different reality depending on the manager's decision in relationship to information available at the time of decision. This paper decomposes global DMU's efficiency into input (or output) components' efficiencies. Each component will have its score instead of a global DMU score. These findings would improve management decision making about reallocating inputs and redefining outputs. Concerning policy implications of the DEA twin models, they help policy makers to assess, ameliorate and reorient their strategies and execute programs towards enhancing the best practices and minimising losses.     

Does oil substitute for patriarchy?

Critics of Ross's (American Political Science Review, 102, 2008, 107) gendered resource curse thesis argue that culture trumps oil wealth as a determinant of female labor force participation (FLFP). Here, I argue that, while cultural attributes do indeed affect the female labor supply, oil wealth reduces the demand for female labor by hurting the export‐oriented industries that employ female labor intensively. By reducing the demand for female labor in this way, oil wealth undermines the positive effect of gender egalitarianism on FLFP. Thus, oil curses women. Using data from the World Values Survey and the World Bank, I find support for the argument.     

Spatial Spillovers on Input‐specific Inefficiency of Dutch Arable Farms

Traditional benchmarking implicitly assumes that decision making units operate in isolation from their peers. For arable production systems in particular, this assumption is unlikely to hold in reality. This paper quantifies spatial spillovers on input‐specific inefficiency using data envelopment analysis and a second‐stage bootstrap truncated regression model. The bootstrap algorithm is extended to allow for the estimation of the parameter of the spatial weight matrix, which captures the proximity between producers. The empirical application concerns Dutch arable farms for which latitudes and longitudes are available. The average inefficiency across years was 3.87% for productive inputs and 2.98% for damage abatement inputs under variable returns to scale. For productive inputs technical inefficiency, statistically significant spillover effects from neighbours’ age and their degree of specialisation depended on the type of the spatial weight matrix used (inverse distance or k‐nearest neighbours). Statistically significant spillover effects of subsidy payments were adverse while statistically significant spillover effects from insurance payments were beneficial. For damage abatement inputs technical inefficiency, statistically significant adverse effects were found for neighbours’ age and subsidy payments and beneficial effects from neighbours’ insurance payments and their degree of specialisation.     

Does financialization retard growth? Time series and cross-sectional evidence

Although financial development is essential for economic development, excessive financialization of the economy is believed to exert a negative effect on output growth. In this article, empirical evidence is presented on the relation between economic growth and financialization as measured by the ratio of credit to GDP and the ratio of publicly traded shares to GDP. The empirical results are based on annual time series data for six country groups as well as cross-sectional data covering a large number of countries. The model is initially specified with unobserved components and estimated in a time-varying parametric framework to account for missing variables. Thereafter, the issue of linear versus quadratic specifications is examined. The results are robust with respect to model specification, estimation method, data type and variable definition, showing in general that financialization has a negative impact on growth. Some evidence is also presented to support the notion of the financial Kuznets curve.     

Dairy sheep farms in semi-arid rangelands: A carbon footprint dilemma between intensification and land-based grazing

In recent decades there have been significant changes in land use and production orientation in certain marginal agricultural areas in the southwest of Spain. The abandonment of rainfed cereal crops and their change of use as natural pastures grazed by milk sheep, have led to an improvement in the profitability of the farms, greater industrialisation and a positive impact on rural development.This paper calculates the carbon footprint (CF) of farms in the context of life cycle assessment with the objective to identify the system that accounts for the lowest CF while maintaining adequate levels of profitability and revitalising the rural environment. The data were obtained through surveys carried out on dairy sheep farms of different typologies, ranging from the semi-intensive farms with small grazing areas, to the extensive farms with large areas of natural pastures. Findings could help farmers evaluate the environmental impact of their activities, while at the same time provide consumers with valuable evidence to be used in further marketing actions.Greenhouse gas emissions vary from 1.77 to 4.09 Kg CO₂eq/kg of milk, where the lowest values correspond to the most intensive farms and the highest values to the most extensive and least productive farms. Enteric fermentation, followed by feeding, are the emissions with the greatest impact. Enteric fermentation reaches its maximum value (52.22 % of the total emissions) in the most extensive farms.On other hand, this study found that carbon sequestration varies between 0.09 and 2.04 kg of CO₂eq/kg of milk, a figure that can considerably reduce the carbon footprint calculation and justifies its inclusion in the Life Cycle Assessment.     

洪涝灾区养猪场户生产恢复行为影响因素的实证分析——基于山东省潍坊市7个县（市、区）的调查

2018年8月,山东省潍坊市爆发了特大洪涝灾害,寿光等7个县(市、区)的养猪场户受灾严重,洪涝灾区养猪场户生产恢复状况成为政府和社会各界时刻关注的热点问题。基于230个养猪场户的调查数据,运用Logit模型实证分析了洪涝灾区养猪场户生产恢复行为的影响因素。研究结果表明:在230个受访养猪场户中,有52.61%选择恢复生产,有47.39%放弃恢复生产并转行;家庭年均收入、养殖年限、是否参加养殖合作组织、养猪业前景预测、有无政府扶持、有无金融机构优惠、有无社会捐助等7个因素对洪涝灾区养猪场户生产恢复行为具有显著影响。     

Farming down the drain: Unintended consequences of the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Rule on small and very small farms

The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 (FSMA) was the first significant reform in 70 years of the food production regulations governing the safety of human and animal foods produced for consumption in the United States. FSMA intended to provide policies that proactively prevent foodborne illnesses, establish science-based food safety standards, and include supply chain partners to ensure systematic prevention of foodborne illnesses. Yet these intentions may also drive small farms out of business, create food supply shortages, stifle food innovation, and harm the environment and consumer health. We propose that policy makers and managers consider reducing unnecessary documentation requirements, incentivizing innovative food technologies that improve food safety, improving the capacity and efficiency of testing labs, and increasing consumer awareness of food safety.