What is Behind the Fall in Russian Agricultural Production?

This study analyses the causal factors of fall in Russian farm output focusing on financial determinants. Translog production function is estimated on panel of 17653 large-scale farms for 1996-1998 period using fixed-effects and accounting for inter-regional climate differences. Output elasticities are analysed for sub-samples of crop and animal producing farms. The research findings show that budget transfers to the farms are inefficient and result in taxation of farms. Farms are operating under the soft budget constraints that have to be removed to improve farm production performance.production, Russia, debts, credit, budget transfers, Production Economics,

Approaching the losses caused by imperfect short-term financing at the Russian farms

This study investigates whether an insufficient short-term financing causes losses for Russian agricultural farm and what is their upper boundary. The modified Bayesian formalism provides a workaround for scarce and in-complete data in our data set. This formalism is incorporated into the objective function of an optimisation model so that this function expresses the empirical dependence of profit on cash flow and debts. The model seeks for the optimal quarterly cash flow distribution within a year. Empirical application employs the data from 60 quarterly reports of six agricultural enterprises in the Moscow Region in 1995-1998. The losses per total farm expenses vary from 2.2 to 42.6% depending on a farm and a year. In more than a half of cases they are greater than 10%. The opportunities to improve farm financial performance can be revealed from individual changes in the quarterly cash flow distribution.imperfect short-term financing losses Russian agriculture Bayesian scarce missed data

LIQUIDITY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN RUSSIAN AGRICULTURE: FARM-DATA EVIDENCE

The Russian agricultural sector has experienced many problems since the beginning of the 1990s that resulted in a fall in farm output. Employing a production function approach and, unlike other studies, farm-level data on more than 20,000 Russian large-scale farms for the period 1995-2000, this study analyzes the impact of both production (land, labour, capital, materials) and financial (debts and budget transfers) determinants on the productivity. Inter-regional differences such as weather conditions and farm-specific features such as geographical location, management and soil quality are taken into account employing the fixed-effect estimation. The findings show that Russian farms operate under liquidity constraints that lower their productivity.Productivity Analysis,

Recent Development in Russian Agro-Food Sector and Its Further Policies

Agribusiness,

NEW MEMBER STATES AND CROSS COMPLIANCE: THE CASE OF POLAND

The New Member States did not yet have to implement the full cross-compliance package. Currently the GEAC requirements in the conditionality clause for the direct payments. The SMRs will become part of it starting from 2009. This paper looks into the Polish case and looks whether timely implementation is feasible. Several factors are mentioned, indicating that this will be a hard task. The problems with implementation explain why the new member states are advocating a gradual phasing in of the SMRs.cross-compliance, agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C01, C02, Q12, Q13,

FARM FIRM MICRO-ECONOMETRIC MODELLING:EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM RUSSIAN DAIRY FARMING

This study develops a micro econometric model of specialised dairy farms in Moscow Region using panel data over the period 1995-1998. The model is used to analyse the role of input and output subsidies in the on-farm decision making. Theoretical conditions for short term profit maximization and the fixed effect specification are not rejected by the data. Estimates of the parameters related to input and output subsidies are found to be highly significant. The effect of output subsidies on milk output supply is larger then the price effect. Output subsidies are allocated efficiently in the period 1996-1998 and inefficiently in 1995; input subsidies are allocated efficiently in 1995 and inefficiently in 1996-1998.Livestock Production/Industries,

Analysing Variation in Russian Dairy Farms, 1990-2001

Russian dairy enterprises underwent dramatic changes during 1990-2001. Not much is known about the position of these enterprises under the new conditions. This study examined a sample group of dairy enterprises in the Moscow region to try to identify similarities and divergences in historical background, performance, managerial and structural characteristics. A unique farm-level data set from 1990-2001 was used. Assessment of historical characteristics revealed that the currently most successful enterprises were those which in pre-reform years had already shown better economic performance. These farms also had, for the period studied, smaller percentages of reduced resources, no severe debt problems, and better overall management.Livestock Production/Industries,

EXPAMOD: A methodological Tool for Linking Farm and Market Models by Means of Econometric Response Functions

Technical change at the farm level or changes in input prices often entail that the firm's supply function changes. These changes can take place in numerous ways. This paper presents a methodology that increases the consistency in supply responses across various sets of agricultural products and farm types with a market model based on a statistical response function approach. Since most farm simulation models are limited to a subset of regions and farm types, the linkage to an aggregated model requires a procedure for expanding these results to non sample regions, so that full regional coverage is achieved. This paper addresses theoretical aspects related to the consistency between micro and market level models. Next it deals with some empirical findings related to the selection of different functional forms for extrapolation. We conclude with a critical reflection on applicability of this method in addressing further needs on up-scaling of other economic as well as non-economic indicators.farm models, market models, extrapolation, Farm Management,

Documentation of model components EXPAMOD and CAPRI

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics,

Training materials for different categories of users

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,