What drives rural out-migration? Insights from Kosovo

Drawing on household, network and relative deprivation models of migration, this paper empirically tests the probability to migrate utilising data for agricultural households in Kosovo (circa 13,500 observations). We identify the determinants of the propensity to migrate and length of migration in the previous year, considering gender related differences. The results reveal the significance of household / personal characteristics, farm characteristics, and network effects on the propensity to migrate and length of migration in the previous year. However, we find no significant effect of relative deprivation on the propensity to migrate and length of migration. While education has a strong, positive effect on migration by women, this is not the case for men. Unprofitability and a lack of inputs, manpower and equipment, causing farmland to be left uncultivated, also stimulate out-migration

Employment effects of CAP payments in the UK non-farm economy

This paper investigates the effect of the CAP payments on the indirectly generated non-farm jobs and whether there are differences in the effect according to business location - rural or urban - and according to CAP measures, in particular Pillar 1 and Pillar 2. A microeconomic approach is employed, based on company data from FAME dataset combined with detailed subsidies data from DEFRA. The focus is on employment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are central for job creation. The generalised method of moments (GMM) is used to estimate the effect of CAP payments on both the level and growth of employment. The results suggest positive net spillovers of CAP payments to non-farm employment. Although the magnitude of the effect is small, it is economically significant. Relative to Pillar 2, Pillar 1 payments have a stronger positive effect. As expected, the non-farm employment effect is particularly important for rural SME

Comparative efficiency of family and corporate farms: does family labour matter

This paper examines the comparative efficiency of family vs corporate farms. It decomposes efficiency into two distinct sources - management capabilities and organisational differences. We find evidence for organisational efficiency gains from family farming, relative to corporate farming and these appear to increase with family involvement. With regard to the management capabilities however, family farms do not compare so favourably. Furthermore family involvement does not seem to have any systematic effect on the management capabilities derived efficiency. The findings indicate that further investigation of the way family farms employ and build management capabilities is needed to substantiate any ‘superiority’ claims

The impact of farm input subsidies on maize marketing in Malawi

This paper investigates the effects of subsidised fertilizer on marketing of maize in Malawi. It uses the nationally representative two-wave Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) data of 2010 and 2013. The results suggest that subsidised fertilizer on average increases farmers’ maize market participation as sellers, total quantity of maize sold, and maize commercialisation. In addition, participation in subsidised fertilizer programme is found to increase the probability of farmers to be net sellers and increases net quantity of maize sold. However, the study finds no evidence of effect on net quantity of maize bought and on household maize self-sufficiency. These results suggest that the farm input subsidy programme has contributed toward an increased level of maize market supply engagement for small farmers and in this sense, the policy has the potential to provide the wider external benefits. Furthermore, the results have implication on the sustainability of the subsidy programme, policy formulation and design of programmes for the agricultural sector and small farmers in developing countries. JEL Classification: Q1; Q13; Q1

One size does not fit all: an empirical investigation of the Romanian agriculture production function

There are issues when researchers want to consider homogeneous, with regard to some functional relationship, groups. For example, in representative farm modelling analysts are interested in specifying groups of farms that have the same input/output relationship. This paper proposes to use the underlying functional relationship to derive such groupings. The paper employs finite regression mixture models to specify and estimate farm groups with regard to pre-specified functional relationship. The proposed approach is illustrated with regard to the aggregate production function of Romanian agriculture. The results point out to two farm clusters. The first one is more productive with a better use of capital and intermediate consumption. The second one makes a better use of land and labour. The calculated Shannon index shows that the second cluster is characterised by a higher level of land use diversity. The implications of the derived structure are discussed in light of two sets of policy – a production oriented and environment oriented one

The Commercialisation of subsistence farms: Evidence from the new member states of the EU

For selected regions of five EU Member States (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovenia), this paper examines the determinants of the commercialisation of (semi)subsistence farms. While subsistence farming has become an important feature of the EU, there is a lack of evidence on its spatial distribution, importance and reasons for persistence. The analysis utilises cross-regional survey data and qualitative interviews. Results suggest the absence of a subsistence poverty trap driven by either farmer perceptions or transactions costs although capital endowment appears to play a significant part. On the other hand the degree of market engagement depends on access costs, which vary with location, households’ productive assets, specialisation, and risk propensity. Implications for land use policy are discussed

What Does Ecological Farming Mean for Farm Labour?

Summary: Ecological farming, such as organic and low‐input farming, is gaining popularity in the public discourse. One question is how this type of farming may impact farm labour from a socio‐economic point of view. The article first discusses how low‐input farming practices (i.e. with lower reliance on inputs derived from fossil fuels) may affect the economic returns to labour, measured as the farm’s revenue per hour of labour input, on data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) in 2004‐‐2015 for four European countries. Returns to labour appear to be highest at the two extremes – very low‐input farms and highly intensive farms. Farms in the low‐input end of the spectrum are in the minority, while the overwhelming majority of farms are intensive and have internal economic incentives to intensify further. The article also analyses how working conditions differ between organic and conventional dairy farms in two European countries based on interviews with farmers in 2019. Results show that all dimensions of working conditions are affected by being an organic farm or not, but this is not the only factor. There are many influences on working conditions, such as the production context and workforce composition

Semi-subsistence farming: An elusive concept posing thorny policy questions

The massive expansion of semi-subsistence farming in the EU after the Eastern enlargements poses a real challenge to rural development. The problems of semi- subsistence farms are low cash incomes and incidence of poverty, sub-optimal use of land and labour, a lack of capital and poor contribution to rural growth. However, they play an important welfare function in some rural areas in Europe; they manage more than eleven million hectares of agricultural land and deliver ecosystem services. The Common Agricultural Policy will have to accommodate this now widespread production system, through existing or new policy packages. Particularly important is support for commercialisation to incentivise and smooth the transition to commercial agriculture, and agri-environmental payments to compensate the semi-subsistence farmers for the provision of ecosystem services

Common Agricultural Policy direct payments and distributional conflicts over rented land within corporate farms in the New Member States

This paper aims to investigate whether distributional issues within corporate farms in the New Member States will be exacerbated by the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) direct payments. The paper focuses on the specific impact of the payments on the land rented to the corporate farms by private landowners. If the latter are not satisfied with the level of rent they receive, they have the option to end their rental contract and withdraw their land from the farm. Before accession to the European Union the landowners did not have strong incentives to withdraw, as the other opportunities available were not associated with higher returns on land ownership. However, this situation might change as the landowners can now cash the CAP direct payments themselves, providing they keep their land in good agricultural and environmental condition.Propositions generated by a simple game, representing the negotiations between a corporate farm manager and an individual landowner about the level of the rent, suggest that the CAP direct payments might induce more rent renegotiations but that overall withdrawals will be infrequent. The results from a survey of landowners in corporate farms in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic seemed to corroborate these a priori expectations. The investigation of the determinants of landowners’ intended behaviour showed that what seems to be important in the decision–making is the relationship between landowners and managers. Those landowners who have frequent contacts and close relations with the farm are less likely to withdraw