FROM COLD TO HOT: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF CLIMATIC EFFECTS ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMS

Lingqiao Qi, Boris Bravo-Ureta and Victor E. Cabrera

No 172411, 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: This study examines the effect of climatic variables on dairy farm productivity using panel data for the state of Wisconsin along with alternative stochastic frontier models. A noteworthy feature of this analysis is that Wisconsin is a major dairy producing area where winters are typically very cold and snowy, and summers hot and humid. Thus, it is an ideal geographical region for examining the effects of a range of climatic factors on dairy production. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the climatic effect on the productivity of Wisconsin farms. We identify the effect of temperature and precipitation, both jointly and separately, on milk output. The analysis shows that increasing temperature in summer or in autumn is harmful for dairy production, while warmer winters and warmer springs are beneficial. By contrast, more precipitation has a consistent adverse effect on dairy productivity. Overall, in the past 17 years, climatic conditions have had a negative impact on the dairy farms in Wisconsin and the data reveals a mild negative trend.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Livestock Production/Industries; Production Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-eff and nep-env
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea14:172411

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.172411

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