Total Factor Productivity Change of the Swiss Dairy Sector for the Mountain Region in the Period 1999 to 2008

In view of a probable free trade agreement between Switzerland and the European Union in the agricultural and food sector and as a consequence of their actual low competitiveness in international comparison, Swiss dairy farms are under pressure to increase their productivity. In the present contribution I assess the total factor productivity (TFP) change in the period 1999-2008 of a balanced panel of 118 dairy farms located in the mountain region using the Malmquist productivity index. Particular attention is paid thereby to the issue of deflation quality for monetary input and output variables, and to the consideration of direct payments. The yearly average TFP growth rate of the sample of farms investigated amounts to 1% and is very close to the levels observed in European countries showing some similarities with Switzerland from an agricultural perspective. There seems thus to be some initial evidence that Swiss dairy farms located in the mountain region can keep up with their European counterparts in terms of TFP growth. However, due to the actual productivity gap existing between Swiss farms and their European counterparts, higher TFP growth would be necessary for the Swiss farms to increase their competitiveness in a European comparison.Livestock Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis,

Sustainable Value: an application to the Swiss dairy farms of the mountainous area

The improvement of the sustainable performance of the agricultural sector is a priority of the Swiss agricultural policy. The sustainability of Swiss dairy farms located in the mountainous area might be critical as many of them show a weak performance in the use of their economic and/or social resources, and sometimes also of their environmental resources. An improvement of the sustainability of these farms prerequisites to better know on a large scale their sustainable performance and its determinants. For a representative sample of 480 dairy farms, we perform an assessment of their sustainable efficiency with the “sustainable value”, an approach to assess corporate sustainability based on the capital and opportunity cost theories. Using a linear regression, we analyze the determinants of the sustainable efficiency. The results show a tight positive relationship between sustainable performance and pure economic performance. The intensity of the use of intermediate consumptions is found to be the most important determinant of the sustainable efficiency. Farms with a high sustainable efficiency are those that use their intermediate consumptions in the most efficient way. The part of direct payments in the gross profit is shown to negatively affect the sustainable efficiency. The structural characteristics of the farms and the sociologic characteristics of the farmer managers are shown to hardly influence the sustainable efficiency.corporate sustainable performance, dairy farms, Switzerland, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries,

Environmental performance and shadow value of polluting on Swiss dairy farms

Better understanding the trade-offs/synergies between desirable and environmentally harmful (undesirable) farm outputs is relevant for future targeting and tailoring of agri-environmental policy measures. We use a hyperbolic distance function to represent the production technology employed by Swiss dairy farms in mountainous regions, thus allowing for simultaneous expansion of desirable outputs (milk and non-milk) and contraction of undesirable output (nitrogen surplus). We calculate the farm-specific shadow price of the undesirable output. The obtained shadow prices (mean value with respect to milk output was equal to 28 Swiss francs per kg of nitrogen) provide quantitative information on farmers’ costs of reducing nitrogen pollution

On the link between economic and environmental performance of Swiss dairy farms of the alpine area

Purpose: Promoting the economic and environmental performance of Swiss farms is a major objective of Swiss agricultural policy. In the present paper, we investigate the relationship between the economic and global environmental performance of the Swiss dairy farms in the alpine area. Methods: The analysis relies on a sample of 56 dairy farms from the Farm Accountancy Data Network, for which highly precise and comprehensive Life Cycle Assessments have been carried out. The work income per family work unit is used as indicator of the economic performance of a farm. The so-called global environmental performance of a farm is, for its part, measured by means of an eco-efficiency indicator for each environmental impact considered (demand for non-renewable energy resources, eutrophication potential, aquatic ecotoxicity potential, human toxicity potential and land use) and of an aggregate eco-efficiency indicator assessed using a Data Envelopment Analysis-based approach. The relationship between economic and global environmental performance is assessed by means of non-parametric Spearman's rank correlation analysis. Results: The results of the analysis reveal the existence of a positive relationship between economic and global environmental performance. This positive relationship exists for all environmental issues considered and thus also for the aggregate eco-efficiency indicator. Its strength, however, substantially varies from one issue to another. Conclusions: This study provides the evidence that there is no trade-off between economic and global environmental farm performance. When they improve their economic performance, farms also tend to improve their global environmental performance and vice versa. This finding is of central relevance for policy-makers as it should contribute to improving the acceptance among farmers of the environmental objectives of Swiss agricultural policy in terms of an increase in environmental resource use productivity. In this sense this work provides valuable insights into the sustainable performance of the Swiss dairy sector in the alpine are

Produktivität biologisch bewirtschafteter Weiden und Wiesen im Kanton Solothurn

Die Produktivität von 54 Dauergraslandparzellen im Schweizer Kanton Solothurn zeigte keine statistisch signifikanten Unterschiede, aber eine starke Tendenz zu einem niedrigeren Ertrag und einem geringeren Phosphorgehalt im Boden auf biologisch gegenüber konventionell bewirtschafteten Weiden

Der Einfluss biologischer Bewirtschaftung auf Ökosystemleistungen von Wiesen und Weiden

Wir untersuchten den Einfluss von biologischer Bewirtschaftung sowie Beweidung auf elf Ökosystemleistungen (ÖSL) auf 54 intensiv bewirtschafteten Grasländern in der Schweiz. Biologische Bewirtschaftung förderte nur eine der ÖSL, dagegen wurden sechs von Beweidung positiv oder negativ beeinflusst

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Total Factor Productivity Change of the Swiss Dairy Sector for the Mountain Region in the Period 1999 to 2008

In view of a probable free trade agreement between Switzerland and the European Union in the agricultural and food sector and as a consequence of their actual low competitiveness in international comparison, Swiss dairy farms are under pressure to increase their productivity. In the present contribution I assess the total factor productivity (TFP) change in the period 1999-2008 of a balanced panel of 118 dairy farms located in the mountain region using the Malmquist productivity index. Particular attention is paid thereby to the issue of deflation quality for monetary input and output variables, and to the consideration of direct payments. The yearly average TFP growth rate of the sample of farms investigated amounts to 1% and is very close to the levels observed in European countries showing some similarities with Switzerland from an agricultural perspective. There seems thus to be some initial evidence that Swiss dairy farms located in the mountain region can keep up with their European counterparts in terms of TFP growth. However, due to the actual productivity gap existing between Swiss farms and their European counterparts, higher TFP growth would be necessary for the Swiss farms to increase their competitiveness in a European comparison

Environmentally harmful by-products in efficiency analysis: An example of nitrogen surplus on Swiss dairy farms

Beside desirable outputs, farming generates environmentally harmful by-products. In this article, we include nitrogen surplus of farms in the representation of the production technology and assessed performance of farms. We measure environmental efficiency (EE) in the framework of a translog output distance function. EE shows by how much a farm can reduce its nitrogen surplus, given multiple inputs and multiple outputs. The study use bookkeeping data on dairy farms in the mountainous region of Switzerland. The analyses show that considering nitrogen surplus has a minor effect on the ranking of farms in terms of technical efficiency. Further, the results indicate relatively low average values for EE, suggesting a need for additional policy measures to reduce farm nitrogen surpluses

Environmentally harmful by-products in efficiency analysis: An example of nitrogen surplus on Swiss dairy farms

Beside desirable outputs, farming generates environmentally harmful by-products. In this article, we include nitrogen surplus of farms in the representation of the production technology and assessed performance of farms. We measure environmental efficiency (EE) in the framework of a translog output distance function. EE shows by how much a farm can reduce its nitrogen surplus, given multiple inputs and multiple outputs. The study use bookkeeping data on dairy farms in the mountainous region of Switzerland. The analyses show that considering nitrogen surplus has a minor effect on the ranking of farms in terms of technical efficiency. Further, the results indicate relatively low average values for EE, suggesting a need for additional policy measures to reduce farm nitrogen surpluses