IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v8y2019i1p17-d197271.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Efficiency of Vegetables Produced in Glasshouses: The Impact of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in Land Management Decision Making

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Bournaris

    (Department of Agricultural Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • George Vlontzos

    (Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Development, University of Thessaly, 38446 Volos, Greece)

  • Christina Moulogianni

    (Department of Agricultural Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece)

Abstract

Glasshouse farming is one of the most intensive types of production of agricultural products. Via this process, consumers have the ability to consume mainly off-season vegetables and farmers are able to reduce operational risks, due to their ability to control micro-climate conditions. This type of farming is quite competitive worldwide, this being the main reason for formulating and implementing assessment models measuring operational performance. The methodology used in this study is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which has wide acceptance in agriculture, among other sectors of the economy. The production protocols of four different vegetables—cucumber, eggplant, pepper, and tomato—were evaluated. Acreage (m 2 ), crop protection costs (€), fertilizers (€), labor (Hr/year), energy (€), and other costs (€) were used as inputs. The turnover of every production unit (€) was used as the output. Ninety-eight agricultural holdings participated in this survey. The dataset was obtained by face-to-face interviews. The main findings verify the existence of significant relative deficiencies (including a mean efficiency score of 0.87) as regards inputs usage, as well as considerably different efficiency scores among the different cultivations. The most efficient of these was the eggplant production protocol and the least efficient was that used for the tomato. The implementation of DEA verified its utility, providing incentives for continuing to use this methodology for improving land management decision making.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Bournaris & George Vlontzos & Christina Moulogianni, 2019. "Efficiency of Vegetables Produced in Glasshouses: The Impact of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in Land Management Decision Making," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-11, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:8:y:2019:i:1:p:17-:d:197271
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/17/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/17/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Banker, Rajiv D. & Thrall, R. M., 1992. "Estimation of returns to scale using data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 74-84, October.
    2. Spyros Niavis & Nikos Tamvakis & Basil Manos & George Vlontzos, 2018. "Assessing and Explaining the Efficiency of Extensive Olive Oil Farmers: The Case of Pelion Peninsula in Greece," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Lozano, S. & Villa, G. & Brännlund, R., 2009. "Centralised reallocation of emission permits using DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 193(3), pages 752-760, March.
    4. Douglas Gollin & Stephen L. Parente & Richard Rogerson, 2004. "Farm Work, Home Work, and International Productivity Differences," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(4), pages 827-850, October.
    5. Song, Malin & An, Qingxian & Zhang, Wei & Wang, Zeya & Wu, Jie, 2012. "Environmental efficiency evaluation based on data envelopment analysis: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 4465-4469.
    6. Zhou, Haibo & Yang, Yi & Chen, Yao & Zhu, Joe, 2018. "Data envelopment analysis application in sustainability: The origins, development and future directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(1), pages 1-16.
    7. Azad, Md A.S. & Ancev, Tihomir, 2010. "Using ecological indices to measure economic and environmental performance of irrigated agriculture," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1731-1739, June.
    8. Catherine Chan & Brent Sipes & Abouzeid Ayman & Xu Zhang & Patricia LaPorte & Fellipe Fernandes & Aliza Pradhan & Jacqueline Chan-Dentoni & Pravat Roul, 2017. "Efficiency of Conservation Agriculture Production Systems for Smallholders in Rain-Fed Uplands of India: A Transformative Approach to Food Security," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-12, August.
    9. Reig-Martinez, Ernest & Picazo-Tadeo, Andres J., 2004. "Analysing farming systems with Data Envelopment Analysis: citrus farming in Spain," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 17-30, October.
    10. Smith, Peter & Mayston, David, 1987. "Measuring efficiency in the public sector," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 181-189.
    11. Vassilis Detsis & Helen Briassoulis & Constantinos Kosmas, 2017. "The Socio-Ecological Dynamics of Human Responses in a Land Degradation-Affected Region: The Messara Valley (Crete, Greece)," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-23, June.
    12. G. Vlontzos & S. Niavis, 2014. "Assessing the Evolution of Technical Efficiency of Agriculture in EU Countries: Is There a Role for the Agenda 2000?," Cooperative Management, in: Constantin Zopounidis & Nikos Kalogeras & Konstadinos Mattas & Gert Dijk & George Baourakis (ed.), Agricultural Cooperative Management and Policy, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 339-351, Springer.
    13. Ferrier, Gary D. & Lovell, C. A. Knox, 1990. "Measuring cost efficiency in banking : Econometric and linear programming evidence," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1-2), pages 229-245.
    14. Dariush Khezrimotlagh & Yao Chen, 2018. "Data Envelopment Analysis," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Decision Making and Performance Evaluation Using Data Envelopment Analysis, chapter 0, pages 217-234, Springer.
    15. Liu, C.H. & Lin, Sue J. & Lewis, Charles, 2010. "Evaluation of thermal power plant operational performance in Taiwan by data envelopment analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 1049-1058, February.
    16. Khoshnevisan, Benyamin & Rafiee, Shahin & Omid, Mahmoud & Mousazadeh, Hossein, 2013. "Reduction of CO2 emission by improving energy use efficiency of greenhouse cucumber production using DEA approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 676-682.
    17. Cook, Wade D. & Seiford, Larry M., 2009. "Data envelopment analysis (DEA) - Thirty years on," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 192(1), pages 1-17, January.
    18. Pahlavan, Reza & Omid, Mahmoud & Akram, Asadollah, 2011. "Energy use efficiency in greenhouse tomato production in Iran," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 6714-6719.
    19. Kristof Witte & Rui Marques, 2010. "Influential observations in frontier models, a robust non-oriented approach to the water sector," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 377-392, December.
    20. Boussofiane, A. & Dyson, R. G. & Thanassoulis, E., 1991. "Applied data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 1-15, May.
    21. Khoshnevisan, Benyamin & Rafiee, Shahin & Omid, Mahmoud & Mousazadeh, Hossein, 2013. "Applying data envelopment analysis approach to improve energy efficiency and reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emission of wheat production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 588-593.
    22. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    23. Elvira Silva & Spiro Stefanou, 2003. "Nonparametric Dynamic Production Analysis and the Theory of Cost," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 5-32, January.
    24. Fare, Rolf & Knox Lovell, C. A., 1978. "Measuring the technical efficiency of production," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 150-162, October.
    25. Cullinane, Kevin & Wang, Teng-Fei & Song, Dong-Wook & Ji, Ping, 2006. "The technical efficiency of container ports: Comparing data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 354-374, May.
    26. Chambers, Robert G. & Chung, Yangho & Fare, Rolf, 1996. "Benefit and Distance Functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 407-419, August.
    27. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    28. Khem Sharma & Pingsun Leung & Halina Zaleski, 1997. "Productive Efficiency of the Swine Industry in Hawaii: Stochastic Frontier vs. Data Envelopment Analysis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 447-459, November.
    29. Joseph Paradi & Mette Asmild & Paul Simak, 2004. "Using DEA and Worst Practice DEA in Credit Risk Evaluation," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 153-165, March.
    30. Emmanuel Thanassoulis, 1999. "Data Envelopment Analysis and Its Use in Banking," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 1-13, June.
    31. R. G. Chambers & Y. Chung & R. Färe, 1998. "Profit, Directional Distance Functions, and Nerlovian Efficiency," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 351-364, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Leonidas Sotirios Kyrgiakos & George Vlontzos & Panos M. Pardalos, 2021. "Ranking EU Agricultural Sectors under the Prism of Alternative Widths on Window DEA," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-26, February.
    2. Christina Moulogianni, 2022. "Comparison of Selected Mathematical Programming Models Used for Sustainable Land and Farm Management," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Kremantzis, Marios Dominikos & Beullens, Patrick & Kyrgiakos, Leonidas Sotirios & Klein, Jonathan, 2022. "Measurement and evaluation of multi-function parallel network hierarchical DEA systems," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Cahyaningsih, Anggi Fitria & Rahayu, Endang Siti & Kusnandar, 2023. "Economic efficiency of cassava farming," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 9(3), September.
    5. Eleni Dimitriadou & Asimina Kouriati & Sofia Karampela & Anna Tafidou & Thomas Bournaris, 2023. "The Three Dimensions of Small Accommodation Businesses and Their Efficiency," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-16, August.
    6. Xiuquan Huang & Tao Zhang & Xi Wang & Jiansong Zheng & Guoli Xu & Xiaoshan Wu, 2024. "Regional differences of agricultural total factor carbon efficiency in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Leonidas Sotirios Kyrgiakos & Georgios Kleftodimos & George Vlontzos & Panos M. Pardalos, 2023. "A systematic literature review of data envelopment analysis implementation in agriculture under the prism of sustainability," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-38, March.
    8. Eleni Dimitriadou & Thomas Bournaris & Theodoros Stavrinoudis & Olga Iakovidou, 2021. "The Efficiency Score of Small Accommodation Businesses in Non-Coastal Rural Areas in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-15, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Spyros Niavis & Nikos Tamvakis & Basil Manos & George Vlontzos, 2018. "Assessing and Explaining the Efficiency of Extensive Olive Oil Farmers: The Case of Pelion Peninsula in Greece," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Vlontzos, G. & Pardalos, P.M., 2017. "Assess and prognosticate green house gas emissions from agricultural production of EU countries, by implementing, DEA Window analysis and artificial neural networks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 155-162.
    3. Camanho, Ana Santos & Silva, Maria Conceicao & Piran, Fabio Sartori & Lacerda, Daniel Pacheco, 2024. "A literature review of economic efficiency assessments using Data Envelopment Analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 315(1), pages 1-18.
    4. Rafael Benítez & Vicente Coll-Serrano & Vicente J. Bolós, 2021. "deaR-Shiny: An Interactive Web App for Data Envelopment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Jin XU & Panagiotis ZERVOPOULOS & Zhenhua QIAN & Gang CHENG, 2012. "A Universal Solution For Units - Invariance In Data Envelopment Analysis," Theoretical and Practical Research in the Economic Fields, ASERS Publishing, vol. 3(2), pages 121-128.
    6. Cheng, Gang & Qian, Zhenhua, 2011. "Dea数据标准化方法及其在方向距离函数模型中的应用 [Data normalization for data envelopment analysis and its application to directional distance function]," MPRA Paper 31995, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Laura Calzada-Infante & Ana María López-Narbona & Alberto Núñez-Elvira & Javier Orozco-Messana, 2020. "Assessing the Efficiency of Sustainable Cities Using an Empirical Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-13, March.
    8. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Yuan, Yan & Goto, Mika, 2017. "A literature study for DEA applied to energy and environment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-124.
    9. Lampe, Hannes W. & Hilgers, Dennis, 2015. "Trajectories of efficiency measurement: A bibliometric analysis of DEA and SFA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 1-21.
    10. Aparicio, Juan & Kapelko, Magdalena, 2019. "Accounting for slacks to measure dynamic inefficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(2), pages 463-471.
    11. Bolós, V.J. & Benítez, R. & Coll-Serrano, V., 2024. "Chance constrained directional models in stochastic data envelopment analysis," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 12(C).
    12. Maria Silva Portela & Pedro Borges & Emmanuel Thanassoulis, 2003. "Finding Closest Targets in Non-Oriented DEA Models: The Case of Convex and Non-Convex Technologies," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 251-269, April.
    13. Liu, John S. & Lu, Louis Y.Y. & Lu, Wen-Min & Lin, Bruce J.Y., 2013. "A survey of DEA applications," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 893-902.
    14. Aparicio, Juan & Pastor, Jesus T., 2014. "Closest targets and strong monotonicity on the strongly efficient frontier in DEA," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 51-57.
    15. Liang-Han Ma & Jin-Chi Hsieh & Yung-Ho Chiu, 2020. "Comparing regional differences in global energy performance," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(6), pages 943-960, September.
    16. Abbas Mardani & Dalia Streimikiene & Tomas Balezentis & Muhamad Zameri Mat Saman & Khalil Md Nor & Seyed Meysam Khoshnava, 2018. "Data Envelopment Analysis in Energy and Environmental Economics: An Overview of the State-of-the-Art and Recent Development Trends," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, August.
    17. Ning Zhang & Jong-Dae Kim, 2014. "Measuring sustainability by Energy Efficiency Analysis for Korean Power Companies: A Sequential Slacks-Based Efficiency Measure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-13, March.
    18. Qingwei Shi & Hong Ren & Weiguang Cai & Jingxin Gao, 2020. "How to Set the Proper CO 2 Reduction Targets for the Provincial Building Sector of China?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-22, December.
    19. Barbero, Javier & Zofío, José L., 2023. "The measurement of profit, profitability, cost and revenue efficiency through data envelopment analysis: A comparison of models using BenchmarkingEconomicEfficiency.jl," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    20. Christian Hernández-Guedes & Jorge V Pérez-Rodríguez & Casiano Manrique-de-Lara-Peñate, 2024. "Input inefficiencies in the hotel industry. A non-radial directional performance measurement," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(7), pages 1753-1779, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:8:y:2019:i:1:p:17-:d:197271. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.