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We studied influence of distance to urban markets on smallholder dairy farming system development. Farms were chosen from three locations that varied in distance to the urban market of Nakuru Town in the Kenyan highlands: urban location (UL, n = 10) at less than 15 km distance, mid-rural location (MRL, n = 11) in between 20 and 50 km west of Nakuru and extreme rural location (ERL, n = 9) beyond 50 km west and south-west of Nakuru. In-depth interviews with farmers and focus group discussions with eight groups of stakeholders were held to collect narratives and data about market quality, production factors, farm performance and functions of dairy cattle. We applied thematic content analysis to qualitative information by clustering narratives according to predefined themes and used ANOVA to analyse farm data. In UL, markets were functional, with predominantly informal market chains, with a high milk price (US $ 45.1/100 kg). Inputs were available in UL markets, but prices were high for inputs such as concentrates, fodder, replacement stock and hired labour. Moreover, availability of grazing land and the high opportunity costs for family labour were limiting dairy activities. In UL, milk production per cow (6.9 kg/cow/day) and per farm (20.1 kg/farm/day) were relatively low, and we concluded that farm development was constrained by scarcity of inputs and production factors. In rural locations (MRL and ERL), markets were functional with relatively low prices (average US $ 32.8/100 kg) for milk in both formal and informal market chains. Here, concentrates were relatively cheap but also of low quality. Fodder, replacement stock and labour were more available in rural locations than in UL. In rural locations, milk production per cow (average 7.2 kg/cow/day) and per farm (average 18.5 kg/farm/day) were low, and we concluded that farm development was constrained by low quality of concentrates and low price of milk. In all locations, production for subsistence was valued since income generated was used for non-dairy expenses. A tailor-made package of interventions that targets the above constraints is recommended for farm development.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the economic performance of Norwegian crop farms using a stochastic frontier analysis. Design/methodology/approach The analysis was based on a translog cost function and unbalanced farm-level panel data for 1991–2013 from 455 Norwegian farms specialized in crop production in eastern and central regions of Norway. Findings The results of the analysis show that the mean efficiency was about 78–81 percent. Farm management practices and socioeconomic factors were shown to significantly affect the economic performance of Norwegian crop farms. Research limitations/implications Farmers are getting different types of support from the government and the study does not account for the different effects of different kinds of subsidy on cost efficiency. Different subsidies might have different effects on farm performance. To get more informative and useful results, it would be necessary to repeat the analysis with less aggregated data on subsidy payments. Practical implications One implication for farmers (and their advisers) is that many of them are less efficient than the estimated benchmark (best performing farms). Thus, those lagging behind the best performing farms need to look at the way they are operating and to seek out ways to save costs or increase crop production. Perhaps there are things for lagging farmers to learn from their more productive farming neighbors. For instance, those farmers not practicing crop rotation might be well advised to try that practice. Social implications For both taxpayers and consumers, one implication is that the contributions they pay that go to subsidize farmers appear to bring some benefits in terms of more efficient production that, in turn, increase the supply of some foods so possibly making food prices more affordable. Originality/value Unlike previous performance studies in the literature, the authors estimated farm-level economic performance accounting for the contribution of both an important farm management practice and selected socioeconomic factors. Good farm management practices, captured through crop rotation, land tenure, government support and off-farm activities were found to have made a positive and statistically significant contribution to reducing the cost of production on crop-producing farms in the Central and Eastern regions of Norway.

Indicator-based tools are widely used for the assessment of farm sustainability, but analysts still face methodological and conceptual issues, including data availability, the complexity of the concept of sustainability and the heterogeneity of agricultural systems. This study contributes to this debate through the illustration of a procedure for farm sustainability assessment focussed on the case study of the South Milan Agricultural Park, Italy. The application is based on a set of environmental, social and economic indicators retrieved from the literature review. The framework is based on three main steps: (i) Data collection mainly through interviews with farmers and institutions; (ii) data elaboration through an aggregative structure; and (iii) score analysis. The latter step includes a descriptive analysis that allows a comparison among farms or groups of farms and a principal components analysis that helps to confirm the dimensions in which indicators were previously included (components). Results derived from the sampled farms show that the framework can provide easy-to-read results useful at different levels. The study highlighted the procedures for the framework construction that is compatible with the region’s context and objectives, using an analytical approach that aims at the use of balanced features of availability and reliability of data.

This doctoral dissertation contains a multidisciplinary approach exploring the possible introduction of a Welfare Assurance Scheme (WAS) for dairy cattle in Flanders, Belgium, with added value for the animals, consumers and farmers. Research questions relate to 1) credible, implementable and cost-efficient welfare assessment, and to the existence of 2) a consumer market for animal-friendly milk and 3) a positive relationship between animal welfare and farm performance. Results show that the integrated herd welfare scores from an existing welfare assessment protocol (the Welfare Quality® protocol) do not accurately reflect dairy cattle welfare in a way that matches well with the opinions of trained users of this protocol. Therefore, an alternative welfare assessment protocol is developed, which is transparent, simple, multidimensional, discriminative, and corresponds with expert opinion. A highly heterogeneous consumer market for animal-friendly milk was identified in Flanders, for which product differentiation is a promising strategy. Dairy cattle health, access to pasture and perceived advantages of such milk are promising selling propositions. For a sample of 41 dairy farms in Flanders, we found no clear link between farm performance and animal welfare, meaning that efforts on one criterion not necessarily jeopardize the other. Besides, farmers may experience added value of a WAS from an improved level of animal welfare and access to a differentiated market. The main conclusion is that the introduction of a WAS in Flanders is possible, but that the implementation strategy is vital to achieve a balance between credibility, feasibility and costs.

Tail lesions are important pig welfare indicators that could be recorded during meat inspection as they are more visible on the carcass than on the live animal. Tail biting is associated with reduced performance in the bitten pig, but it is not clear whether problems with tail biting are reflected in general farm performance figures. Farm advisory services aim to improve farm productivity which could be associated with improvements in pig welfare. Record keeping forms an integral part of such advisory services. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of record keeping in the Teagasc eProfit Monitor (ePM herds) on the prevalence of tail lesion severity scores in Irish slaughter pigs. In addition, we investigated associations between the prevalence of tail lesion scores and production parameters at farm level in ePM herds. Pigs were observed after scalding/dehairing and tail lesion score (0 to 4), sex and farm identification were recorded. Tail lesion scores were collapsed into none/mild lesions (score ⩽1), moderate lesions (score 2) and severe lesions (score ⩾3). The effect of record keeping (ePM herd) on the different tail lesion outcomes was analysed at batch level using the events/trials structure in generalized linear mixed models (PROC GLIMMIX). Spearman’s rank correlations were calculated between average tail lesion score of a batch and production parameters. A total of 13 133 pigs were assessed from 73 batches coming from 61 farms. In all, 23 farms were identified as ePM herds. The average prevalence of moderate tail lesions was 26.8% and of severe tail lesions was 3.4% in a batch. Batches coming from ePM herds had a lower prevalence of moderate tail lesions than non-ePM herds (P

Social capital becomes the main capital that must be owned by an entrepreneur, thus increasing the entrepreneurial spirit. The purpose of this research is to know the institutional condition of the members of the group of tilapia fish farm, the social capital of the member of the cultivation group of tilapia, the entrepreneurial spirit, farm performance of the tilapia fishery group, and the institutional influence, social capital, entrepreneurial spirit to the business performance of the nila fish farming group in Sleman District. The method used in this research is a method of a mixed method, with 150 responders and analyzed with SEM. The results showed that more than 50% of institutional conditions, social capital, entrepreneurial spirit, and business performance of tilapia fish farming group members of beginners, middle, and main in Ngemplak and Cangkringan Subdistrict Sleman Regency has a high category. There is no significant institutional influence on the influence of social capital on the entrepreneurial. Institutional is not a moderator variable between social capital relations and entrepreneurial spirit. This indicates that the higher/ lower institutional will not result in changes the higher/ lower the influence of social capital on entrepreneurial.

Societal expectations about agricultural production are changing. There are increased demands on issues such as food safety, animal welfare and the impact of agriculture on the environment (land, water and air). These changes have been refl ected in the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), but information on these issues is lacking and this complicates the required evaluation of policies. The EU Framework 7 project FLINT tries to close this gap by analysing the feasibility of collecting data on these new topics. FLINT has established a data infrastructure with up-to-date farm-level indicators for the monitoring and evaluation of the CAP. The project created a pilot network of more than 1,000 farms to collect a set of sustainability indicators at farm level. The pilot represents farm diversity at EU level, including the different administrative environments in the Member States. This paper sets out the context and the main contributions of the project., http://dx.doi.org/10.7896/j.1627

This study examines the impact of agricultural cooperative membership on the adoption of technologies and farm performance, using data collected from 481 apple farmers in China. Specifically, the study first examines the impact of cooperative membership on investment in organic fertilizer, farmyard manure and chemical fertilizer using a recursive bivariate probit model. Second, the causal link between cooperative membership and adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) technology is analyzed by employing an endogenous switching probit model. Meanwhile, a treatment effects model is employed to further analyze the impact of IPM adoption on apple yields, net returns and agricultural income. Third, this study examines the impact of cooperative membership on apple yields, net returns and household income using an endogenous switching regression model. Fourth, a treatment effects model is employed to analyze the impact of cooperative membership on return on investment (ROI). Finally, the determinants of marketing contract choices including written contracts, oral contracts and no contracts, and the impact of marketing contracts on net returns are analyzed. The empirical results show that cooperative membership exerts a positive and statistically significant impact on the probabilities of investing in organic fertilizer and farmyard manure. Cooperative membership exerts a positive and significant impact on IPM adoption, and IPM adoption increases apple yields, net returns and agricultural income. Moreover, cooperative membership exerts a positive and significant impact on apple yields, farm net returns, household income and ROI. The results further indicate that written contracts increase apple farmers’ net returns, while oral contracts exert the opposite effect. Finally, the findings show that education, household size, farm size, labor input, asset ownership and access to credit exert positive and significant effects on the choice of cooperative membership.

The financial performance of 240 farms in a drought-affected agricultural region of Australia is analysed. The decadal study period included some years of widespread drought, as well as years with only subregional droughts or no drought. Some droughts created larger adverse financial impacts than others. Mostly, the more droughts farms experienced, the worse was their financial performance relative to farms within the same quantile of farm performance. Despite the incidence of drought, by the end of the decade, almost all the farm businesses were wealthier from increasing their farm size and becoming more crop dominant. Unexpectedly, consecutive years of drought had a significant positive effect on the operating profit per hectare and retained profit per hectare of farms in a majority of their respective quantiles. Many farms that experienced consecutive drought were forced to make structural changes, shifting away from livestock production towards additional cropping. These structural changes boosted farm performance over the decade. The incidence of drought affected some measures of farm performance differently whilst others were affected similarly. Understanding these metrics of farm performance and the structural changes underway in an agricultural region helps form a more complete view of drought impacts.

Many studies show that interaction with extension services impact farmer’s technology adoption decisions and profitability levels. However, analysis of extension impact across all farm systems whilst controlling for endogeneity biases is less common. This research attempts to redress that research gap by firstly discussing the various biases related to the motivation to engage with extension services, omitted variable bias and measurement error, and subsequently applying instrumental variable (IV) regression estimation to the relationship between extension engagement and farm level outcomes, namely family farm income over a pooled panel dataset. Distance to the local advisory office and the introduction of a policy change were chosen as valid and relevant instruments. The results indicate a positive impact of extension engagement on farm income, and imply that an ordinary least squares approach underestimates the benefits of extension engagement. Accordingly, increased advisory activity could improve the performance of the sector significantly, and this could be a useful policy tool to achieve the targets as set out by the Irish governments Food Wise 2025 plan.

Clam farming in the coastal provinces of Vietnam has notably developed since the last decade. It generated high income, improve socio-economic development for many local communities. However, many clam raising farms were facing difficulties of farm management, disease control, markets and systems of quality control. This research aimed to study about the real situation of cost monitoring in the clam raising farms in the Northern area of Vietnam and suggested some recommendation to promote the benefits for farmers. The paper is based on the semi-structure, standard questionnaires and PRA method to collect data from112 clam raising farms in two coastal provinces (Nam Dinh and Thai Binh) in the Northern area of Vietnam in 2014. The findings showed that clam raising provided farmers a chance of getting high income parallel with high risk. There were 32.14% surveyed farms that got profit; 32.14% of them met the break-even, and 35.72% was lost. The study has found out four key factors affecting farms’ economic performance and efficiency. The first factor that impacted on the farms’ outcome was the low capacity of farm cost control, thus the cost for clam raising was very high at 8,142 to 9,190 USD per ha. The second was the farmers’ experience, skill, technique and ability to control risk. The third was the low, unstable market and unsuitable market. Final factor was the area and location of clam raising. Despite these difficulties, 57.14% surveyed farms still intended to expand their production; 25% of them would continue; and only 17.86% would stop or changed to other activities. In order to promote the benefits for clam raising farmers, cost control should be paid more attention, improvement of the farmers’ capacity to control cost was necessary, and market should be regarded.

In the past few decades, farms have increased in size and the focus of management has changed from curative to preventive. To help farmers cope with these changes, veterinarians offer veterinary herd health management (VHHM) programs, whose major objective is to support the farmer in reaching his farm performance goals. The association between farm performance and participation in VHHM, however, remains unknown. The aim of this paper was to compare farm performance parameters between participants and nonparticipants in VHHM and to differentiate within participation to evaluate the possible added value of VHHM on the farm. Five thousand farmers received a questionnaire about the level of VHHM on their farm. Farm performance parameters of these 5,000 farms were provided. For all respondents (n=1,013), farm performance was compared between participants and nonparticipants and within level of participation, using linear mixed and linear regression models. Farmers who participated in VHHM produced 336 kg of milk/cow per year more and their average milk somatic cell count (SCC) was 8,340 cells/mL lower than farmers who did not participate in VHHM. Participating herds, however, had an older age at first calving (+12d), a lower 56-d nonreturn rate percentage (-3.34%), and a higher number of inseminations per cow (+0.09 inseminations). They also had more cows culled per year (+1.05%), and a lower age at culling (-70 d). Participants in the most-extended form of VHHM (level 3) had a lower SCC (-19,800 cells/mL), fewer cows with high SCC (-1.70%), fewer cows with new high SCC (-0.47%), a shorter calving interval (-6.01 d), and fewer inseminations per heifer (-0.07 inseminations) than participants in the least-extended form of VHHM (level 1). Level 3 participants, however, also had more cows culled per year (+1.74%) and a lower age at culling (-103 d). Discussing specific topics with the veterinarian (milk production, fertility, and udder health) had only marginal effects on improving the farm performance parameters related to those topics. Given the relevance of fertility on the farm and the focus on longevity by society, it is important to determine underlying reasons for the negative associations of these topics with participation in VHHM. A longitudinal study could provide answers to this. For now, veterinarians should be aware of the associations. The increased milk production and milk quality could help the marketing of VHHM to farmers.

This article evaluates the impact of an extension programme that financially rewards farmers for participation. The evaluation focuses on programme participants who joined after a financial reward was introduced and compares their farm performance to farmers who chose not to join the programme. Farmers are assessed in relation to improvements in financial, grassland and breeding management over an observation period from 2008 and 2012. The results, based on a modified difference-in-difference estimator, reveal no significant impact of the programme, albeit programme participants seem to have improved their farm performance. Reasons for this finding are discussed and, given this rather unique policy move, the study offers policy recommendations of broad relevance.

In transition economies, capital structure decisions are not driven from the market, but on farmers’ expectations to receive financial support from the government. These observations raise the necessity for empirical evidences for RM on whether agricultural support programs, affecting capital structure decisions and other specific farm structural characteristics, foster improvements in farm performance. The results support that agricultural companies worry less about their capital structure hindering investments and thus, restructuring of the agriculture.

This study uses data from a national survey to determine the goal hierarchies of U.S. meat goat producers and the factors impacting goal structure. Profit maximization and leisure-related goals were the highest-ranked goals. Producer demographics, farm descriptors, region of production, and other factors impacted goal structure.

In the past few decades, farms have increased in size and the focus of management has changed from curative to preventive. To help farmers cope with these changes, veterinarians offer veterinary herd health management (VHHM) programs, whose major objective is to support the farmer in reaching his farm performance goals. The association between farm performance and participation in VHHM, however, remains unknown. The aim of this paper was to compare farm performance parameters between participants and nonparticipants in VHHM and to differentiate within participation to evaluate the possible added value of VHHM on the farm. Five thousand farmers received a questionnaire about the level of VHHM on their farm. Farm performance parameters of these 5,000 farms were provided. For all respondents (n = 1,013), farm performance was compared between participants and nonparticipants and within level of participation, using linear mixed and linear regression models. Farmers who participated in VHHM produced 336 kg of milk/cow per year more and their average milk somatic cell count (SCC) was 8,340 cells/mL lower than farmers who did not participate in VHHM. Participating herds, however, had an older age at first calving (+12 d), a lower 56-d nonreturn rate percentage (-3.34%), and a higher number of inseminations per cow (+0.09 inseminations). They also had more cows culled per year (+1.05%), and a lower age at culling (-70 d). Participants in the most-extended form of VHHM (level 3) had a lower SCC (-19,800 cells/mL), fewer cows with high SCC (-1.70%), fewer cows with new high SCC (-0.47%), a shorter calving interval (-6.01 d), and fewer inseminations per heifer (-0.07 inseminations) than participants in the least-extended form of VHHM (level 1). Level 3 participants, however, also had more cows culled per year (+1.74%) and a lower age at culling (-103 d). Discussing specific topics with the veterinarian (milk production, fertility, and udder health) had only marginal effects on improving the farm performance parameters related to those topics. Given the relevance of fertility on the farm and the focus on longevity by society, it is important to determine underlying reasons for the negative associations of these topics with participation in VHHM. A longitudinal study could provide answers to this. For now, veterinarians should be aware of the associations. The increased milk production and milk quality could help the marketing of VHHM to farmers.

Agricultural land fragmentation is widespread around the world and may affect farmers’ decisions and therefore have an impact on the performance of farms, in either a negative or a positive way. We investigated this impact for the western region of Brittany, France in 2007. To do so, we regressed a set of performance indicators on a set of fragmentation descriptors. The performance indicators (production costs, yields, revenue, profitability, technical and scale efficiency) were calculated at the farm level, using Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data. By contrast, due to limits in the available data, the fragmentation descriptors were calculated at the municipality level, using data from the cartographic field pattern registry (RPG). The various fragmentation descriptors enabled not only the traditional number and average size of plots, but also their scattering in the geographical space, to be taken into account. The analysis brought several findings. Firstly, it is relevant to consider the various dimensions of LF when studying its impact on farm performance, in particular shape and distance considerations. Secondly, in all cases but one, the effect of the various LF descriptors on performance indicators conform to expectations, that is to say LF increases production costs and decreases yields, revenue, profitability and efficiency. Thirdly,with a simple simulation we have shown that the benefits from reducing fragmentation may differ with respect to the improved LF dimension and the performance indicator considered. Hence, when setting up consolidation programs, it may be crucial for policy-makers to first decide which performance dimension they aim at favouring in order to choose the most efficient way to do so. Finally, from a methodological point of view, our results support the relevance of using descriptors of LF at the municipality level as a proxy when farm level LF descriptors are not available; Le morcellement du parcellaire agricole est un phénomène répandu qui peut influencer les décisions des agriculteurs et donc avoir un impact, positif ou négatif, sur la performance des exploitations. Nous avons étudié cet impact pour la région Bretagne en 2007. Pour ce faire, nous avons régressé un ensemble d’indicateurs de la performance sur un ensemble de descripteurs du morcellement. Les indicateurs de performance (coûts de production, rendements, revenu, rentabilité, efficacité technique et d’échelle) ont été calculés à l’échelle de l’exploitation à partir des données du Réseau d’Information Comptable Agricole (RICA), tandis que les descripteurs de morcellement ont été calculés à l’échelle communale à partir des données du Registre Parcellaire Graphique (RPG). Les différents descripteurs de morcellement utilisés ont permis de prendre en compte non seulement le nombre et la taille moyenne des îlots, traditionnellement étudiés, mais également leur dispersion géographique. Notre analyse met en évidence que les mesures du morcellement généralement utilisées dans la littérature ne permettent pas de mettre en évidence toutes les relations significatives avec la performance et que, en particulier, tenir compte des effets de la distance devrait être plus systématique.

A non-neutral stochastic distance function model is used to examine whether output specialization has an impact on the economic performance of vegetable producers in Benin. Specialization is assumed to have an effect on the production frontier and on the distance to the production frontier (technical inefficiency). The technology is found to exhibit diseconomies of scope, indicating that vegetable producers have an incentive for specialization. At the same time, the degree of specialization has a positive effect on technical efficiency. From a policy perspective, the findings imply that current government policies to encourage diversification may lead to a lower performance.

Agricultural land fragmentation is widespread and may affect farmers’ decisions and impact farm performance, either negatively or positively. We investigated this impact for the western region of Brittany, France, in 2007. To do so, we regressed a set of performance indicators on a set of fragmentation descriptors. The performance indicators (production costs, yields, revenue, profitability, technical and scale efficiency) were calculated at the farm level using Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data, while the fragmentation descriptors were calculated at the municipality level using data from the cartographic field pattern registry (RPG). The various fragmentation descriptors enabled us to account for not only the traditional number and average size of plots, but also their geographical scattering. We found that farms experienced higher costs of production, lower crop yields and lower profitability where land fragmentation (LF) was more pronounced. Total technical efficiency was not found to be significantly related to any of the municipality LF descriptors used, while scale efficiency was lower where the average distance to the nearest neighbouring plot was greater. Pure technical efficiency was found to be negatively related to the average number of plots in the municipality, with the unexpected result that it was also positively related to the average distance to the nearest neighbouring plot. By simulating the impact of hypothetical consolidation programmes on average pre-tax profits and wheat yield, we also showed that the marginal benefits of reducing fragmentation may differ with respect to the improved LF dimension and the performance indicator considered. Our analysis therefore shows that the measures of land fragmentation usually used in the literature do not reveal the full set of significant relationships with farm performance and that, in particular, measures accounting for distance should be considered more systematically.

Agricultural land fragmentation is widespread and may affect farmers’ decisions and impact farmperformance, either negatively or positively. We investigated this impact for the western region ofBrittany, France, in 2007. To do so, we regressed a set of performance indicators on a set of fragmentation descriptors. The performance indicators (production costs, yields, revenue, profitability, technical and scale efficiency) were calculated at the farm level using Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data, while the fragmentation descriptors were calculated at the municipality level using data from the cartographic field pattern registry (RPG). The various fragmentation descriptors enabled us to account for not only the traditional number and average size of plots, but also their geographical scattering. We found that farms experienced higher costs of production, lower crop yields and lower profitability where land fragmentation (LF) was more pronounced. Total technical efficiency was not found to be significantly related to any of the municipality LF descriptors used, while scale efficiency was lower where the average distance to the nearest neighbouring plot was greater. Pure technical efficiency was found to be negatively related to the average number of plots in the municipality, with the unexpected result that it was also positively related to the average distance to the nearest neighbouring plot. By simulating the impact of hypothetical consolidation programmes on average pre-tax profits and wheat yield, we also showed that the marginal benefits of reducing fragmentation may differ with respect to the improved LF dimension and the performance indicator considered. Our analysis therefore shows that the measures of land fragmentation usually used in the literature do not reveal the full set of significant relationships with farm performance and that, in particular, measures accounting for distance should be considered more systematically.

The rural sector in nearly all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has undergone a shift from predominantly collective to more individualized agriculture. At the same time, most of the land in the region has shifted from state to private ownership. These two shifts – a shift in tenure and a shift in ownership – were part of the transition from a centrally planned economy to a more marketoriented economy that began around 1990 in the huge post-Soviet space stretching from Prague to Vladivostok. The transition reforms in the region were unprecedented in their scope and pace. Some 150 million hectares of agricultural land transferred ownership in these countries in just one decade of reform (1990-2000), compared with 100 million hectares in Mexico during 75 years (1917-1992) and 11 million hectares in Brazil during 30 years (1964- 1994) (Deininger 2003). The basis of this shift from collective to individual agriculture lay in two interrelated aspects of agricultural policy reform: land reform, which concerns issues of land use rights and land ownership; and farm reform, which deals with issues of restructuring of farms into individual land holdings. Land reform, together with farm restructuring, set an agenda for the transformation of socialist farms into hopefully a more efficient farm structure with a clear market orientation

Confirmatory Factor Analysis is used to determine the explanatory power of indicator measures for farm size and performance., Replaced with revised version of poster 08/03/10.

National audience; This article studies the impact of the labour force composition of farms – the share of family labour, permanent hired labour, and seasonal hired labour – on farm productivity. A simple transformation of a Cobb-Douglas function allows us to estimate the relative efficiency of each labour force. Our estimation is based on specialised fruit and vegetable farms over the period 1995-2006 drawn from the French sample of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). We show that the labour force composition affects the farm’s productivity and that family workers are less productive than hired workers even if the specialisation of some hired worker in seasonal high productivity tasks is taking into account. The results suggest that this difference is linked with productivity gains inherent to task specialisation. We also find that seasonal workers are not less productive than permanent ones altought seasonal work in agriculture is synonymous with low earnings, job insecurity and absence of career development.

National audience; This article studies the impact of the labour force composition of farms – the share of family labour, permanent hired labour, and seasonal hired labour – on farm productivity. A simple transformation of a Cobb-Douglas function allows us to estimate the relative efficiency of each labour force. Our estimation is based on specialised fruit and vegetable farms over the period 1995-2006 drawn from the French sample of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). We show that the labour force composition affects the farm’s productivity and that family workers are less productive than hired workers even if the specialisation of some hired worker in seasonal high productivity tasks is taking into account. The results suggest that this difference is linked with productivity gains inherent to task specialisation. We also find that seasonal workers are not less productive than permanent ones altought seasonal work in agriculture is synonymous with low earnings, job insecurity and absence of career development.

The aim of this paper is to present an analysis of farm-level data collected in a survey of 464 Polish farms in 2000. Performance indicators of farms in three Polish voivodships are compared with farm accountancy data from two German Länder. The results show that Polish farms are much less profitable than their German counterparts. The gap in income levels is much higher between persons employed in the agricultural sector than between average working persons in the two countries. Living standards of the Polish farm population in the north-west exceed those in the south-east of the country. The analysis suggests that the lower profitability of farms has two major reasons. First, farms in the German regions receive much higher levels of subsidies. Second, there are pronounced structural deficiencies due to a quite unfavourable workforce-land ratio on Polish farms. These farms are less productive and less specialized than the German farms analysed. There is a generally conservative attitude among Polish farmers that prefers the continuation of farming over leaving the sector. Nevertheless, income from agriculture is to a substantial extent complemented by off-farm employment in the southern regions. Our overall conclusion is that Polish farms currently are in the midst of a regional, economic, and social differentiation process fuelled by severe imbalances in terms of income levels between rural and urban population groups. This process is however seriously slowed down or even halted by a number of effective institutional barriers, particularly with regard to rural labour markets. These barriers should be properly addressed by a formulation of future policies in order to avoid further social frictions in the course of the Polish EU accession.

To assess the performance of a farmer and to identify best practice among a group of farmers, the assumption is often made that all farmers maximize profits and thus share the same business goals. However, performance differs due to personal characteristics, objectives and strategies. A survey carried out among 73 Belgian dairy farmers revealed that for only 34% of the farmers "profit maximization" is a primary objective. A regression analysis revealed that self-declared profit maximizers only obtained a higher farm income per liter, not per labour unit. Through cluster analysis, four main groups of farmers were found with similar objectives and management ideas: (A) risk-taking and progressive cow farmers, (B) riskaverse and progressive labour savers, (C) risk-neutral and relatively conservative profit maximizers and (D) risk-averse and conservative cow farmers. Gross margin per liter was highest for the labour savers. Other performance parameters were higher for cluster B only compared to cluster D. Scale economies were found for all performance parameters except for gross margin per liter.

This paper attempts to shed light on the recent performance of farms in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and to compare the findings from the CEECs with the EU situation. Utilising farm survey data, ratios of agricultural profitability and productivity have been estimated and clusters of farms with similar characteristics have been identified. Analysis indicates that the Hungarian farms have the best prospects amongst the analysed accession countries according to their profitability. The poor profitability and structural problems of Polish agriculture are highlighted. The family farms are less productive than corporate farms in the Czech Republic and Hungary despite the expectations at the outset of the reform that better incentives will boost their productivity.

The aim of this paper is to present an analysis of farm-level data collected in a survey of 464 Polish farms in 2000. Performance indicators of farms in three Polish voivodships are compared with farm accountancy data from two German Länder. The results show that Polish farms were much less profitable than their German counterparts. The gap in income levels is much higher between persons employed in the agricultural sector than between average working persons in the two countries. Living standards within the Polish farm sector decline from the north-west to the south-east. The analysis suggests that the lower profitability of farms is a consequence of pronounced structural deficiencies due to a quite unfavourable workforce-land ratio on Polish farms and hardly a result of lower product prices. Serious technical and economic inefficiencies in the production process become visible in the data. There is a generally conservative attitude among farmers that prefers the continuation of farming over leaving the sector. Nevertheless, income from agriculture is to a substantial extent complemented by off-farm employment in the southern regions. Formal education of farm managers and access to finance appeared not to be crucial for their economic success in the past, although especially the most profitable farms in the north did not obtain as much credit as desired. Our overall conclusion is that Polish farms currently are in the midst of a regional, economic, and social differentiation process fuelled by huge imbalances in terms of income levels between rural and urban population groups. This process is however seriously slowed down or even halted by a number of effective institutional barriers, particularly with regard to rural labour markets. These barriers should be properly addressed by a formulation of future policies in order to avoid further social frictions in the course of the Polish EU accession. Der Beitrag stellt die Ergebnisse einer Analyse von einzelbetrieblichen Kennzahlen vor, die im Rahmen einer Befragung von 464 polnischen Landwirten im Jahre 2000 erhoben wurden. Die Analyse stützt sich auf den Vergleich von landwirtschaftlichen Betrieben in drei polnischen Woiwodschaften und zwei deutschen Bundesländern. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die polnischen Betriebe deutlich geringere Gewinne erzielen als ihre deutschen Vergleichspartner. Der Unterschied im Einkommensniveau zwischen Beschäftigten in der Landwirtschaft ist wesentlich höher als der zwischen durchschnittlichen Arbeitnehmern in beiden Ländern. Das Einkommensniveau innerhalb des polnischen Agrarsektors sinkt vom Nordwesten zum Südosten des Landes. Die Analyse legt nahe, dass die geringere Rentabilität der Betriebe in Polen in erster Linie auf Strukturdefizite als Konsequenz eines ungünstigen Verhältnisses zwischen Arbeitskraftbesatz und Nutzfläche zurückgeht und kein Resultat unterschiedlicher Produktpreisniveaus ist. Die Daten weisen weiterhin auf deutliche technische und wirtschaftliche Ineffizienzen im Produktionsprozess hin. Polnische Landwirte zeigen eine allgemein konservative Haltung, sie ziehen eine Fortsetzung der Tätigkeit als Landwirt einer außerlandwirtschaftlichen Beschäftigung vor. Dennoch werden vor allem in den südlichen Regionen landwirtschaftliche Einkommen weithin durch nichtlandwirtschaftliche Einkommensquellen ergänzt. Die formale Ausbildung der Landwirte sowie Zugang zu Krediten erwiesen sich in der Vergangenheit als überwiegend nicht entscheidend für den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg, obwohl besonders die rentabelsten Betriebe im Norden des Landes nicht in der Lage waren, Kredite im gewünschten Umfang zu erhalten. Wir ziehen als allgemeine Schlussfolgerung, dass sich die polnischen Betriebe inmitten eines regionalen, wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Ausdifferenzierungsprozesses befinden, der in erster Linie durch die großen Unterschiede im Einkommensniveau zwischen ländlichen und städtischen Bevölkerungsgruppen verursacht wird. Allerdings wird dieser Prozess durch effektive institutionelle Hindernisse, besonders im Hinblick auf den ländlichen Arbeitsmarkt, stark verlangsamt oder sogar zum Stehen gebracht. Diesen Hindernissen sollte durch künftige Politikmaßnahmen angemessen begegnet werden, um weitere soziale Verwerfungen im Laufe des polnischen EU Beitritts zu vermeiden.

Textbooks and articles on farm management stress the importance of the management capacity of the fanner with respect to his farm results. However, explicit definitions together with an elaboration of this concept are hard to find. In this article, aspects of management capacity are grouped into: (1) personal aspects, consisting of fanner's drives and motivations, fanner's abilities and capabilities and his biographical facts such as age and education; and (2) aspects of the decision-making process, consisting of practices and procedures with respect to planning, implementation and control of decisions at the farm. Empirical studies on the role of management capacity in relation to farm results are reviewed. Frontier production functions are widely used in recent literature to estimate technical and economic efficiency of farms. However, in explaining differences in efficiency most studies do not go further than adding a biographical variable (e.g., level of education). This study concludes that a next step would be to include aspects of the decision-making process. Longitudinal on-farm observations, which give possibilities for studying the dynamic aspects of the decision-making, are suggested to further analyze the concept of management capacity. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.