Technical efficiency of Swiss dairy farms locat-ed in the mountain area considering both eco-nomic and environmental resources

Pierrick Jan, Markus Lips and Michel Dumondel
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Pierrick Jan: Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART
Markus Lips: Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART
Michel Dumondel: ETH Zürich, Institute for Environmental Decisions

Journal of Socio-Economics in Agriculture (Until 2015: Yearbook of Socioeconomics in Agriculture), 2010, vol. 3, issue 1, 39-76

Abstract: Increasing the efficiency of the use of economic and environmental resources of Swiss farms is a priority of Swiss agricultural policy as part of the objective of improving the sustainable performance of the Swiss agricultural sector. In this paper we assess the long-run technical efficiency of the use of economic and environmental resources of a sample of 480 Swiss dairy farms located in the mountain area using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analy-sis approach. In a second step, using a linear regression, we inves-tigate the determinants of this technical efficiency. The results of the regression performed show that farm size and the strategic orientation of farm activity have a much greater effect on efficiency than the characteristics of the dairy production system or dairy herd management. An increase in farm size and an increased ori-entation towards para-agricultural activities are shown to exert a strong positive effect on technical efficiency. Conversely, part-time farming turns out to have a substantial negative impact on the effi-ciency of resource use.

Keywords: efficiency analysis; economic resources; environmental resources; dairy farms; Switzerland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q12 Q56 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cha:ysa001:v:3:y:2010:i:1:p:39-76

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