Technical efficiency in organic farming: an application on Italian cereal farms using a parametric approach
Conference Paper
Publication Date:
2005
Short description:
Technical efficiency in organic farming: an application on Italian cereal farms using a parametric approach / Madau, Fabio Albino. - (2005), pp. 1-15. (Intervento presentato al convegno The future of rural Europe in the global agri-food system: 11th Congress of the EAAE).
abstract:
A stochastic frontier production model was applied to estimate technical efficiency in a sample of
Italian organic and conventional cereal farms. The main purpose was to assess which production
technique revealed higher efficiency. Statistical tests on the pool sample model suggested that
differences between the two cultivation methods were significant from a technological viewpoint.
Separate analyses of two sub-samples (93 and 138 observations for organic and conventional farms,
respectively) found that conventional farms were significantly more efficient than organic farms, with
respect to their specific technology (0.892 vs. 0.825). This implies that organic (conventional) cereal
farmers could increase their income to 99.19 €/ha (40.95 €/ha). Analysis also estimated that land was
the technical input with the highest elasticity for both technologies. Furthermore, findings indicated
that 63.7% of the differentials between observed and best-practice output was explained by technical
inefficiency for the conventional group, while this value was close to unity for organic farms. Some
policy implications can be drawn from these findings.
Italian organic and conventional cereal farms. The main purpose was to assess which production
technique revealed higher efficiency. Statistical tests on the pool sample model suggested that
differences between the two cultivation methods were significant from a technological viewpoint.
Separate analyses of two sub-samples (93 and 138 observations for organic and conventional farms,
respectively) found that conventional farms were significantly more efficient than organic farms, with
respect to their specific technology (0.892 vs. 0.825). This implies that organic (conventional) cereal
farmers could increase their income to 99.19 €/ha (40.95 €/ha). Analysis also estimated that land was
the technical input with the highest elasticity for both technologies. Furthermore, findings indicated
that 63.7% of the differentials between observed and best-practice output was explained by technical
inefficiency for the conventional group, while this value was close to unity for organic farms. Some
policy implications can be drawn from these findings.
Iris type:
4.1 Contributo in Atti di convegno
Keywords:
Organic farming; comparison analysis; cereal-growing; technical efficiency; stochastic frontier production models
List of contributors: