Tag: dairy farms

This paper analyses the composition and volatility of the total income and wealth of dairy farmers and the importance and volatility of the different components contributing to their total income and wealth based on Dutch FADN data. The results confirm some existing findings on the stabilising impact of CAP subsidies and off-farm income on farmers’ total income. The paper extends the existing analyses by exploring the impact of taxes on income volatility and the important role of savings in stabilising consumption of farm households. In this paper we show that a broader perspective (including off-farm income and wealth) provides a more realistic picture of the income and wealth effects as experienced by farmers.

This paper aims to explore the efficiency of Hungarian dairy farms. Based on FADN data representing more than 950 dairy farms in Hungary, our sample contains more than 6800 data points which we analysed by applying different Data Envelopment Analysis models. Results suggest that the average technical efficiency of the Hungarian dairy sector during the examined 10 years was 77.6%, meaning that output could be increased by 22.4% without changing the level of input (efficiency reserve). Large and small farms are more efficient (79.2%) than medium sized farms (59.2%). Moreover, large farms keeping more than 501 dairy cows were found to be more efficient (92.5%) than the other two size categories (77.9% and 65%, respectively). Farms located in Northern Hungary had less efficiency reserves (23.6%) that the farms operating in the Great Hungarian Plain, Central Hungary (34.8%) or in the Transdanubian Region (27.6%). All this suggests high reserves for potential efficiency growth.

Usable agricultural land in Iceland is predominantly represented by permanent grasslands and pasture used for livestock grazing, while the cultivation of arable crops such as cereals and potatoes has a very modest incidence on the total agricultural surface area. The main purpose of this research, therefore, was to assess the technical efficiency of dairy and sheep farming across Iceland’s regions using annual census data for the years 2008 and 2017. The assessment of the technical efficiency of farms – one that is able to analyse multi-input/output production functions – has been estimated through the use of the non-parametric approach of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The research findings have highlighted the need for farmers to reduce certain inputs such as labour costs and general productive overheads, as well as to address their efforts to extensive forms of livestock farming, notably sheep rearing, which is able to take advantage of the abundant and rich grasslands. In general, sheep farms have been found to be technically more efficient than dairy, while farms located in the capital region have been shown to have lower levels of technical efficiency overall.