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Productivity and technical efficiency of suckler beef production systems: trends for the period 1990 to 2012

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

P. Veysset ,
M. Lherm ,
M. Roulenc ,
C. Troquier  and
D. Bébin
P. Veysset*
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1213 Herbivores, 63122 St-Genès-Champanelle, France Clermont Université, VetAgro Sup, UMR1213 Herbivores, BP 10448, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
M. Lherm
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1213 Herbivores, 63122 St-Genès-Champanelle, France Clermont Université, VetAgro Sup, UMR1213 Herbivores, BP 10448, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
M. Roulenc
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1213 Herbivores, 63122 St-Genès-Champanelle, France Clermont Université, VetAgro Sup, UMR1213 Herbivores, BP 10448, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
C. Troquier
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1213 Herbivores, 63122 St-Genès-Champanelle, France Clermont Université, VetAgro Sup, UMR1213 Herbivores, BP 10448, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
D. Bébin
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1213 Herbivores, 63122 St-Genès-Champanelle, France Clermont Université, VetAgro Sup, UMR1213 Herbivores, BP 10448, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
*
†E-mail: veysset@clermont.inra.fr
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Abstract

Over the past 23 years (1990 to 2012), French beef cattle farms have expanded in size and increased labour productivity by over 60%, chiefly, though not exclusively, through capital intensification (labour–capital substitution) and simplifying herd feeding practices (more concentrates used). The technical efficiency of beef sector production systems, as measured by the ratio of the volume value (in constant euros) of farm output excluding aids to volume of intermediate consumption, has fallen by nearly 20% while income per worker has held stable thanks to subsidies and the labour productivity gains made. This aggregate technical efficiency of beef cattle systems is positively correlated to feed self-sufficiency, which is in turn negatively correlated to farm and herd size. While volume of farm output per hectare of agricultural area has not changed, forage feed self-sufficiency decreased by 6 percentage points. The continual increase in farm size and labour productivity has come at a cost of lower production-system efficiency – a loss of technical efficiency that 20 years of genetic, technical, technological and knowledge-driven progress has barely managed to offset.

Keywords

beef cattlefarming systemeconomicsefficiency
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 9 , Supplement 12 , December 2015 , pp. 2050 - 2059
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2015 

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