Economic effects of plot sizes and farm-plot distances in organic and conventional farming systems: A farm-level analysis for Germany

J. Heinrichs, T. Kuhn, C. Pahmeyer and Wolfgang Britz

Agricultural Systems, 2021, vol. 187, issue C

Abstract: Plot sizes and farm-plot distances affect the economic performance of agricultural production. Their economic effects likely differ between conventional and organic farming systems due to major differences in crop production programs. Our paper quantifies these effects based on big data on resource requirements of field operations, summarized by regression models. Combined with detailed case study information obtained through interviews, we assess plot size and farm-plot distance effects for three case study farms which recently converted to organic farming. Our results show for both farming systems, as expected, that larger plot sizes reduce labor requirements and costs associated with crop production while larger farm-plot distances increase them. At same plot sizes and farm-plot distances organic farms face lower costs in crop production and, at given market prices, higher profits. Cost savings from larger plot sizes are, however, higher in conventional farming systems as are cost increases from growing farm-plot distances. This implies that economic benefits of conversion are higher for farms managing smaller plots farther away from the farm. Land fragmentation might hence favor switching to organic production and motivate regionally differentiated subsidy rates.

Keywords: Economic performance; Organic farming; Conventional farming; Plot size; Farm-plot distance; Big data analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X20308532
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:187:y:2021:i:c:s0308521x20308532

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2020.102992

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Systems is currently edited by J.W. Hansen, P.K. Thornton and P.B.M. Berentsen

More articles in Agricultural Systems from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().