Coping with ex ante Regulations and ex post Liability Rules for Planting Bt-maize – The Portuguese Experience

This study investigates the attitude and practices of GM and non-GM maize farmers in Portugal. Thirty seven GM maize farmers were interviewed representing 22.5% of the total number of GM maize notifications in the country. Additionally, 66 non-GM maize farmers were surveyed in an attempt to investigate their opinion on the Bt technology, its viability and its future. The most interesting finding is that almost half of all the surveyed maize farmers (GM and non-GM) stated that the ex ante regulations are rigid and difficult to apply. On the contrary, the ex post tort liability rules are very clear and provide the appropriate security for the continuation of the GM maize cultivation.Coexistence, Bt-maize, Portugal, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries,

Coping with ex-ante regulations for planting Bt maize: the Portuguese experience

This article investigates the attitude and practices of Bt and non-Bt maize farmers in Portugal. Thirty-seven Bt maize farmers were interviewed, representing 22.5% of the total number of Bt maize notifications in the country and 31.5% of the total area planted with Bt maize in 2007. Additionally, 66 non-Bt maize farmers were surveyed in an attempt to investigate their opinion on the Bt technology, its viability, and its future. The most interesting finding is that almost half of all the surveyed maize farmers stated that the ex-ante regulations are rigid and difficult to apply.agriculture; coexistence; Bt maize; Portugal; regulation

A generalized true random-effects model with spatially autocorrelated persistent and transient inefficiency

This study extends the generalized true random-effects model to account for spatial dependence in persistent and transient inefficiency. For this purpose, a model with spatially autocorrelated persistent and transient inefficiency components is specified. Additionally, spatial dependence is also modeled in the noise component to account for uncontrolled spatial correlations. The proposed model is applied to a panel dataset of Wisconsin dairy farms observed between 2009 and 2017 and estimated using Bayesian techniques. Apart from the traditional output-input quantities, the utilized dataset also contains information on the exact location of farms based on their latitude and longitude coordinates as well as on environmental factors. The empirical findings suggest low levels of both persistent and transient inefficiency for farms. Additionally, all components exhibit spatial dependence with its magnitude being more than double for persistent inefficiency

Technical and Scale Efficiency of Chinese Apparel Firms

This paper aimed at assessing the recent technical efficiency and scale efficiency of Chinese T&A firms. The findings showed that the T&A firms in sample had fairly high technical efficiency, meanwhile they have a remarkably high scale efficiency. This is contrary with Ye and Zhou’s (2013) research, though, still suggested that Chinese T&A firms would set increasing TE as the priority and pay more attention to the utilization of resources, or technology updates, rather than increasing production scale. Moreover, the difference on TE between firm categories warned that Men’s wear and Sportswear firms may need urgent willing to improve their firm’s performance

Do Farmers Internalise External Impacts of Pesticides in Production?

In modern agriculture, pesticides feature so prominently in growers’ arsenal to reduce crop damage caused by various pests and diseases. But their indiscriminate use can harm human health and the environment and, eventually, impact agricultural productivity negatively. In an era of an increasing public awareness on the external effects of pesticides, the EU is trying to update its pesticide policy by establishing tax and levy schemes. An important question is whether the external impacts of pesticides are also affecting the farmers’ production environment. A damage abatement specification is used consisting of a potential output function and a damage abatement function. The damage abatement function considers both high and low toxicity pesticides, and variables reflecting pesticide impacts on biodiversity and operator’s health. The application focuses on panel data of Dutch cash crop producers. The pesticide contribution on some biodiversity categories are found to impact farm output significantly. The outcome is important for designing tax systems that aim at socially optimal use of pesticides.pesticides, externalities, biodiversity, The Netherlands, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, Productivity Analysis,

Analysing inefficiency in a non-parametric spatial-dynamic by-production framework : A k-nearest neighbour proposal

This paper accounts for spatial effects by benchmarking farms against their k-nearest neighbours (KNN) and measuring their inefficiency in a non-parametric dynamic by-production setting. The optimal number of neighbours (Formula presented.) against which farms are compared corresponds to the value of (Formula presented.) that maximises the Moran I test for spatial autocorrelation of the good and the bad output of the farms' two sub-technologies. The inefficiency scores for farms' good output, variable inputs, investments and bad outputs are then computed and compared with those calculated based on a global technology, which benchmarks all farms together. The application focuses on an unbalanced panel of specialised Dutch dairy farms over the period 2009–2016 that contains information on their exact geographical locations. The results suggest that the inefficiency scores exhibit statistically significant differences between the KNN and the global model. Specifically, the inefficiencies are generally deflated when a KNN technology is considered, suggesting that ignoring spatial effects can overestimate inefficiency

Do European Union farmers reject genetically modified maize? : farmer preferences for genetically modified maize in Greece

The new EU proposal (IP/10/921) states that bans on genetically modified (GM) crops should not be based on environmental and health grounds, and it proposes a set of alternative reasons -- including public order and morals -- that can be cited by member states. This reveals the increasing importance of stakeholders' attitudes in GM crops' release decisions. This article analyzes farmers' attitudes and perceptions toward GM maize based on a survey of large-area Greek farmers in Northeastern Greece. A considerable number of respondents (61%) would adopt GM maize if Greece lifts the ban on GM maize cultivation. This result opposes recent findings from countries strongly opposing GM crops (such as France and Hungary), where bans are in line with the majority view of farmers. The ban is against what the majority of large-area farmers in Greece would choose if allowed

Technical and Scale Efficiency of Chinese Apparel Firms

This paper aimed at assessing the recent technical efficiency and scale efficiency of Chinese T&A firms. The findings showed that the T&A firms in sample had fairly high technical efficiency, meanwhile they have a remarkably high scale efficiency. This is contrary with Ye and Zhou’s (2013) research, though, still suggested that Chinese T&A firms would set increasing TE as the priority and pay more attention to the utilization of resources, or technology updates, rather than increasing production scale. Moreover, the difference on TE between firm categories warned that Men’s wear and Sportswear firms may need urgent willing to improve their firm’s performance.</p

Farmer awareness, perceptions and adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles: evidence from Missouri

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to play an important role in the future of farming. Because UAVs can provide precise, real-time information on biotic and abiotic stressors in agricultural production while they can also carry out autonomous operations to counter them, they can enhance farm profitability while reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture. Yet little is known about the current adoption of UAVs in agriculture or about the profile of the adopters. In this study we report actual and expected adoption of UAVs for a rich cross section of crop farmers and examine the factors that shape such adoption. In our empirical analysis we describe the inherent farmer heterogeneity – as shaped by differential awareness of UAV applications, perceptions of technical complexities, expectations of economic and environmental benefits and various socioeconomic factors – and analyze which of all these factors shape individual farmer adoption of UAVs. We also estimate and describe a small number of farmer segments that might adequately describe general population tendencies in the adoption of UAVs

Farmer awareness, perceptions and adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles: evidence from Missouri

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to play an important role in the future of farming. Because UAVs can provide precise, real-time information on biotic and abiotic stressors in agricultural production while they can also carry out autonomous operations to counter them, they can enhance farm profitability while reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture. Yet little is known about the current adoption of UAVs in agriculture or about the profile of the adopters. In this study we report actual and expected adoption of UAVs for a rich cross section of crop farmers and examine the factors that shape such adoption. In our empirical analysis we describe the inherent farmer heterogeneity – as shaped by differential awareness of UAV applications, perceptions of technical complexities, expectations of economic and environmental benefits and various socioeconomic factors – and analyze which of all these factors shape individual farmer adoption of UAVs. We also estimate and describe a small number of farmer segments that might adequately describe general population tendencies in the adoption of UAVs