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Synergies and trade-offs in the promotion of the economic and environmental performance of Swiss dairy farms in the mountain area

Author

Listed:
  • Pierrick Jan

    (Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon)

  • Markus Lips

    (Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon)

  • Michel Dumondel

    (ETH Zurich)

Abstract

Promoting both the environmental and economic performance of Swiss agriculture is one of the core objectives of Swiss agricultural policy. In the present paper we identify the synergies and trade-offs in the promotion of these two dimensions of corporate sustainable performance for Swiss dairy farming in the mountain area. Performance is thereby defined as the efficiency of a farm in using its economic and environmental resources to produce agricultural goods or services. The results of our investigation show the existence of several synergies and rather few trade-offs. By increasing farm size, promoting full-time farming and decreasing the intensity of the use of concentrates, major enhancements in terms of both economic and environmental performance can be achieved. Only two variables are shown to present a trade-off in terms of promotion of farm economic and environmental performance: the production of silage-free milk intended for the manufacture of raw milk cheese and the stocking rate. The production of silage-free milk has a positive effect on farm economic performance but a negative one on farm environmental performance. Conversely, the stocking rate negatively impacts on the economic performance but seems to have a positive effect on the environmental one.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierrick Jan & Markus Lips & Michel Dumondel, 2011. "Synergies and trade-offs in the promotion of the economic and environmental performance of Swiss dairy farms in the mountain area," Journal of Socio-Economics in Agriculture (Until 2015: Yearbook of Socioeconomics in Agriculture), Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, vol. 4(1), pages 135-161.
  • Handle: RePEc:cha:ysa001:v:4:y:2011:i:1:p:135-161
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    File URL: http://archive.jsagr.org/v4/YSA2011_Jan.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Weiming Tian & Guang Wan, 2000. "Technical Efficiency and Its Determinants in China's Grain Production," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 159-174, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lips, Markus, 2014. "Calculating full costs for Swiss dairy farms in the mountain region using a maximum entropy approach for joint-cost allocation," International Journal of Agricultural Management, Institute of Agricultural Management, vol. 3(3), pages 1-9.
    2. Nina Repar & Pierrick Jan & Thomas Nemecek & Dunja Dux & Reiner Doluschitz, 2018. "Factors Affecting Global versus Local Environmental and Economic Performance of Dairying: A Case Study of Swiss Mountain Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic performance; environmental performance; dairy farming; Switzerland;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics

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