Assessing the impact of agri-environmental schemes on the eco-efficiency of rain-fed agriculture

  • M. Beltrán-Esteve Departamento de Economía Aplicada II. Universidad de Valencia. Campus de Tarongers. 46022, Valencia
  • J. A. Gómez-Limón Departamento de Economía, Sociología y Política Agrarias. Universidad de Córdoba. Puerta Nueva s/n. 14071, Córdoba
  • A. J. Picazo-Tadeo Departamento de Economía Aplicada II. Universidad de Valencia. Campus de Tarongers. 46022, Valencia
Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), economic-ecological efficiency, shadow prices, agri-environmental policy, Spain

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact of the Agri-environmental Extensification Scheme for the Protection of Flora and Fauna (F&F Scheme) on the eco-efficiency of a sample of dryland farms in the Spanish region of Castile and Leon. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the so-called program decomposition approach to efficiency measurement, we explore whether or not the production technology of the farms included in the F&F Scheme is more eco-efficient than the technology used by farms that are not included in the Scheme. The re-sults obtained confirm the foregoing hypothesis, providing evidence that environmental pres-sures could be reduced if all farms adopted the F&F Scheme technology. Furthermore, shad-ow prices are used to assess the monetary value of the potential reduction in environmental pressures that farms could achieve by adopting the F&F Scheme. The results show that the average opportunity cost of the decrease in environmental pressures (€55.65 ha-1) is similar to the compensation received by farms included in the F&F Scheme. Nevertheless, bearing in mind the great diversity of farms, we recommend agricultural policymakers to use an auction system to award such environmental contracts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References


Alliance Environnement, 2007. Evaluation of the application of cross-compliance as foreseen under Regulation 1782/2003. Part I: Descriptive report. Institute for European Envi-ronmental Policy and Oréade-Brèche Sarl, London. Available in http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/eval/reports/cross_compliance/index_en.htm. [July 2011].
 

Arandia A, Aldanondo-Ochoa A, 2011. Pollution shadow prices in conventional and organic farming: an application in a Mediterranean context. Span J Agric Res 9(2): 363-376. 

Atance I, Barreiro-Hurlé J, 2006. CAP MTR versus environmentally targeted agricultural policy in marginal arable areas: impact analysis combining simulation and survey data. Agr Econ 34: 303-313.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0864.2006.00127.x 

Barreiro-Hurlé J, Martínez-Paz JM, Espinosa-Goded M, 2009. Conservación y eficiencia pro-ductiva: impacto de los programas agro-ambientales en la eficiencia de las explotacio-nes cerealistas de secano. ITEA 105(3): 184-201. 

Brockett PL, Golany B, 1996. Using rank statistics for determining programmatic efficiency differences in data envelopment analysis. Manage Sci 42: 466-472.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.42.3.466 

Charnes A, Cooper WW, Rhodes E, 1978. Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. Eur J Oper Res 2: 429-444.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(78)90138-8 

Charnes A, Cooper WW, Rhodes E, 1981. Evaluating program and managerial efficiency: an application of data envelopment analysis to program follow through. Manage Sci 27: 668-697.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.27.6.668 

Cooper WW, Seiford LM, Tone K, 2007. Data envelopment analysis. A comprehensive text with models, applications, references and DEA-Solver software. Springer, New York. 

Cooper T, Hart K, Baldock D, 2009. The provision of public goods through agriculture in the European Union, Report Prepared for DG Agriculture and Rural Development, Con-tract No 30-CE-1233091/00-28. Institute for European Environmental Policy, London. Available in http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/analysis/external/public-goods/index_en.htm. [July 2011].
 
EC, 2005. Agri-environment measures: overview on general principles, types of measures, and application. European Commission -Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development, Brussels.
 
EC, 2006. Rural development in the European Union – Statistical and economic information, Report 2006. European Commission -Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development, Brussels.
 

Engel S, Pagiola S, Wunder S, 2008. Designing payments for environmental services in theory and practice: An overview of the issues. Ecol Econ 65: 663-674.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.03.011 

Espinosa-Goded M, Barreiro-Hurlé J, Ruto E, 2010. What do farmers want from agri-environmental scheme design? A choice experiment approach. J Agric Econ 61: 259-273.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-9552.2010.00244.x 

Färe R, Grosskopf S, Noh D, Weber WL, 2005. Characteristics of polluting technology. The-ory and practice. J Econometrics 126: 469-492.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2004.05.010 

Färe R, Grosskopf S, Weber WL, 2006. Shadow prices and pollution costs in US agriculture. Ecol Econ 56: 89-103.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.12.022 

Gómez-Limón JA, Picazo-Tadeo AJ, Reig-Martínez E, 2012. Eco-efficiency assessment of olive farms in Andalusia. Land Use Policy 29(2): 395-406.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.08.004 

Grosskopf S, Valdmanis V, 1987. Measuring hospital performance. A non-parametric ap-proach. J Health Econ 6: 89-107.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0167-6296(87)90001-4 

Hansen JW, 1996. Is agricultural sustainability a useful concept? Agr Syst 50: 117-143.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0308-521X(95)00011-S 

Hodge I, 2000. Agri-environmental relationships and the choice of policy mechanism. World Econ 23: 257-273.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9701.00271 

Huppes G, Ishikawa M, 2005. A framework for quantified eco-efficiency analysis. J Ind Ecol 9: 25-41.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/108819805775247882 

Kallas Z, Gómez-Limón JA, Arriaza M, 2007. Are citizens willing to pay for agricultural multifunctionality? Agr Econ 36: 405-419.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0862.2007.00216.x 

Kuosmanen T, Kortelainen M, 2005. Measuring eco-efficiency of production with data envel-opment analysis. J Ind Ecol 9: 59-72.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/108819805775247846 

Latacz-Lohmann U, Van Der Hamsvoort C, 1997. Auctioning conservation contracts: a theo-retical analysis and an application. Am J Agric Econ 79: 407-418.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1244139 

Latacz-Lohmann U, Hodge I, 2003. European agri-environmental policy for the 21st century. Aust J Agr Resour Ec 47: 123-139.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8489.00206 

Leleu H, Briec W, 2009. A DEA estimation of a lower bound for firms' allocative efficiency without information on price data. Int J Prod Econ 121: 203-211.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2009.05.002 

Lozano S, Iribarren D, Moreira MT, Feijoo G, 2009. The link between operational efficiency and environmental impacts: A joint application of life cicle assessment and data en-velopment analysis. Sci Total Environ 407: 1744-1754.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.10.062
PMid:19056104  

MAPA, 2004. Libro Blanco de la Agricultura y el Desarrollo Rural. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, Madrid. 

MARM, 2008. Evaluación final del programa de desarrollo rural para las medidas de acom-pañamiento en España, 2000-2006. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Medio Rural y Marino, Madrid. 

Mauchline A, Mortimer S, Park J, Finn J, Haysom K, Westbury D, Purvis G, Louwagie G, Northey G, Primdahl J et al., 2012. Environmental evaluation of agri-environment schemes using participatory approaches: Experiences of testing the agri-environmental footprint index. Land Use Policy 29(2): 317-328.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.07.002 

MEA, 2005. Ecosystems and well-being. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Island 671 Press, Washington DC, USA.
 

Misra D, Kant S, 2007. Shadow prices and input-oriented production efficiency analysis of the village-level production units of joint forest management (JFM) in India. Forest Policy Econ 9: 799-810.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2006.04.004 

O'Donnell C, Rao D, Battese G, 2008. Metafrontier frameworks for the study of firm-level efficiencies and technology ratios. Empirical Econ 34: 231-255.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00181-007-0119-4 

Oñate JJ, Atance I, Bardají I, Llusia D, 2007. Modelling the effects of alternative CAP poli-cies for the Spanish high-mature value cereal-steppe farming systems. Agr Syst 94: 247-260.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2006.09.003 

Oude Lansink A, Silva E, 2004. Non-parametric production analysis of pesticides use in the Netherlands. J Prod Anal 21: 49-65.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:PROD.0000012452.97645.30 

Picazo-Tadeo AJ, Reig-Martínez E, Gómez-Limón JA, 2011. Assessing farming eco-efficiency: a data envelopment analysis approach. J Environ Manage 92: 1154-1164.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.11.025
PMid:21193265  

Picazo-Tadeo AJ, Beltrán-Esteve M, Gómez-Limón JA, 2012. Assessing eco-efficiency with directional distance functions. Eur J Oper Res 220: 798-809.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2012.02.025 

Reig-Martínez E, Picazo-Tadeo AJ, Hernández-Sancho F, 2001. The calculation of shadow prices for individual wastes using distance functions: An analysis for Spanish ceramic pavements firms. Int J Prod Econ 69: 277-285.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0925-5273(00)00018-9 

Schaltegger S, 1996. Corporate environmental accounting. John Wiley and Sons Ltd, Chich-ester, UK.
 

Schilizzi S, Latacz-Lohmann U, 2007. Assessing the performance of conservation auctions: An experimental study. Land Econ 83(4): 497-515. 

Silva M, Thanassoulis E, 2001. Decomposing school and school type efficiencies. Eur J Oper Res 38: 357-373.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(00)00157-0 

Windle J, Rolfe J, 2008. Exploring the efficiencies of using competitive tenders over fixed price grants to protect biodiversity in Australian rangelands. Land Use Policy 25: 388-398.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2007.09.005

Published
2012-10-23
How to Cite
Beltrán-Esteve, M., Gómez-Limón, J. A., & Picazo-Tadeo, A. J. (2012). Assessing the impact of agri-environmental schemes on the eco-efficiency of rain-fed agriculture. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 10(4), 911-925. https://doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2012104-3088
Section
Agricultural economics