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Technical efficiency of organic pasture farming in Germany: The role of location economics and of specific knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2011

S. Lakner ,
S. von Cramon-Taubadel  and
B. Brümmer
S. Lakner*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Georg-August University Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany.
S. von Cramon-Taubadel
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Georg-August University Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany.
B. Brümmer
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Georg-August University Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany.
*
*Corresponding author: slakner@gwdg.de
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Abstract

We analyze the efficiency of organic pasture farming in Germany using data from 1994/95 to 2005/06. Five inputs and one output are analyzed by means of a stochastic frontier production function, allowing for heteroscedasticity and technical effects. Five sets of possible determinants of technical efficiency are considered in the model. These include: (1) farm structure and resources; (2) human capital and management capacities; (3) institutional choice; and (4) subsidies. To these factors that are commonly included in technical effects models, we add (5) a set of variables that capture localization and urbanization economies such as the share of organic farms in a region and the regional share of votes for the Green Party in recent elections. These regional effects are found to have a significant impact on the technical efficiency of organic farms. The evolution of efficiency on farms that are converting from conventional to organic farming is also analyzed.

Keywords

efficiency analysisorganic farminglocation economicsspecific knowledge
Type
Research Papers
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , September 2012 , pp. 228 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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