The Economic Returns to Membership of a Dairy Discussion Group: Evidence from the Irish National Farm Survey

Thia C. Hennessy, Doris Lapple and Carol Newman

No 108784, 85th Annual Conference, April 18-20, 2011, Warwick University, Coventry, UK from Agricultural Economics Society

Abstract: In December 2009 the Irish Department of Agriculture launched the Dairy Efficiency Programme. The Programme, which is operated through a series of discussion groups, is designed to promote technology transfer to dairy farmers. Drawing on National Farm Survey data from 2009, the purpose of this paper is to quantify the economic return to membership of dairy discussion groups. An endogenous switching regression model is specified for over 300 dairy farms to assess the impact of discussion group participation on farm gross margins. The results indicate self-selection into discussion groups, suggesting that „better‟ farmers tend to participate. Generally, younger farmers who operate larger farms are more likely to join discussion groups. Discussion group members have higher gross margins than non-members, but non-members could increase their gross margins if they join discussion groups. Overall, the findings confirm positive returns to discussion group membership, thus supporting the Dairy Efficiency Programme.

Keywords: Livestock; Production/Industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 15
Date: 2011-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cdm and nep-soc
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aesc11:108784

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.108784

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