Farms' technical inefficiencies in the presence of government programs

We focus on determining the impacts of government programs on farms’ technical inefficiency levels. We use Kumbhakar’s stochastic frontier model that accounts for both production risks and risk preferences. Our theoretical framework shows that decoupled government transfers are likely to increase (decrease) DARA (IARA) farmers’ production inefficiencies if variable inputs are risk decreasing. However, the impacts of decoupled payments cannot be anticipated if variable inputs are risk increasing. We use farm-level data collected in Kansas to illustrate the model.Just and Pope production function, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management,

The Determinants of Survival of Spanish Consumers Fronting the BSE Crisis

The impact of food scares on meat consumption has been traditionally investigated by estimating food demand systems using aggregated time series. Only a few have considered micro data but none of them has tried to quantify consumers’ reaction to food scares and the speed of such reactions. In this study we apply duration analysis techniques with the aim of analysing the effect of different explanatory variables on both the risk of reducing beef consumption and the timing of this reduction. Our results suggest that the maximum hazard occurs during the few months after the occurrence of the food crisis and then the reducing consumption hazard tend to diminish. Moreover, economic factors such as prices and income could be considered as the most determinant factors of the survival of the Spanish consumers facing the BSE crisis while other socioeconomic characteristics such as the age, the gender, etc., have a small, if any, effect on the occurrence and the speed of beef consumption reduction indicating a quite homogenous reaction among Spanish consumers to BSE crisis. These results provide interesting insights about how policy makers could orientate food policies in order to recover consumption after a food scare.Food scare, BSE, duration analysis, reaction timing, Spain, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries, C41, D1,

Effects of policy instruments on farm investments and production decisions in the Spanish cop sector

Our paper asses the impacts of the partially decoupled (PD) scheme, implemented during the 1990s and first half of the 2000s in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), on on-farm investment as well as on other production decisions. The Spanish COP sector was taken as a case study due to its economic and political relevance. The empirical analysis is applied on farm-level data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), observed from 2000 to 2004, based on. We use a reduced-form application of the dual model of investment under uncertainty and a system of censored and non censored equations is estimated. PD payments are found to increase short-run production and to generate a statically significant increase in the investment in farm assets. Results also show the importance of assessing the effects of PD payments in a dynamic framework as the one applied in this paper.farm investments, Common Agricultural Policy, decoupling, production., Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Differential Uncertainties and Risk Attitudes between Conventional and Organic Producers: The Case of Spanish COP Farmers

The growing importance of economic factors in farmers decision to go organic has raised interest in characterizing the economic behavior of organic versus conventional farms. Published analyses so far have not considered differential uncertainties and farmers risk preferences between conventional and organic practices when comparing these techniques. Our article attempts to assess this issue. We use a model of farmer decision under risk to analyze the differential values between Spanish COP organic and conventional farms and to assess the incentives for adoption of organic practices. Results show that organic and conventional farms do have different abilities to control production risk as well as different risk preferences. Organic price premiums and subsidies are found to be powerful instruments to motivate adoption of organic techniques.Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Are The Spanish Citrus Farms Efficient?

Spain occupies the first position in the European and Mediterranean rankings of citrus production and trade. In our analysis we assess the technical efficiency with which this sector is operating. The main objective of this study is to analyze productivity and technical efficiency of Spanish citrus sector through citrus farms with high orange production. A stochastic frontier production model is estimated in which the technical inefficiency effects are defined by the time-varying inefficiency model. A primal approach is used to decompose Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth into its various components. Results indicate improvement in efficiency scores of Spanish citrus farms along the period studied. Allocative efficiencies, technical efficiency change, and scale effects are found to be the main factors that increase TFP growth.Productivity Analysis,

Non-parametric and Parametric Modeling of Biodiesel - Sunflower Oil - Crude Oil Price Relationships

Multivariate local linear regression and parametric error correction models are applied to assess price linkages and price transmission patterns between food and energy prices in Spain. Weekly biodiesel, sunflower and crude oil prices observed from November 2006 to October 2010 are used in the empirical analysis. Results suggest the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the three prices studied. Biodiesel is the only variable that adjusts to deviations from this long-run parity. Local linear regression techniques show that the speed of adjustment of biodiesel prices is higher when biodiesel is cheap than when it is expensive. Energy prices are also found to influence sunflower oil prices through the short-run price dynamics.Price transmission, local linear regression, biodiesel, Spain, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Technical efficiency analysis and decomposition of productivity growth of Spanish olive farms

The concept of technical efficiency is critical to measuring the firm performance, determining the degree of innovative technology adoption and the overall production efficiency. Traditionally, technical efficiency has been measured as the ratio of observed output to maximum feasible output. Stochastic frontier models have been widely utilized to assess this issue. Our research evaluates technical efficiencies in the Spanish olive sector. Specifically, the main objective of this study is to estimate a stochastic frontier production model by using a farm- level panel of data. The non- negative technical efficiency effects are assumed to be a function of firm- specific variables. A sample of Spanish farms observed from 1999 to 2002 is obtained from the FADN dataset and used in the estimation of the model. Maximum- likelihood methods are applied in the estimation of the parameters of the model. A primal approach is used to decompose Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth. Results indicate that farm location, age of manager, tenure regimes of land and whether the farm has adopted organic farming techniques affect efficiency levels . Technical efficiency change, allocative efficiencies and scale effects are found to be the main sources of TFP growth, while technical change seems to be of minor importance. Results also suggest that Spanish olive farms are less efficient relative to other EU farms. This suggests that improvements in the Spanish olive productive capacity after the accession to the EU were not fully implemented in the period of analysis. This may be due to a decline in olive farm incomes as a result of a decline in both public subsidies and in output prices after the mid 1990s.Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis,

Local Polynomial Fitting and Spatial Price Relationships: Price Transmission in the EU Markets for Pigmeat

We apply nonparametric methods to assess price transmission processes within the EU pig markets. We compare results derived from nonparametric regressions with those obtained using alternative nonlinear threshold models. Results show that nonparametric regressions support the parametric results. However, parametric techniques often suggest a higher degree of price transmission than that implied by threshold models.Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,