IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agfoec/v12y2024i1d10.1186_s40100-024-00321-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Structural dynamics and sustainability in the agricultural sector: the case of the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Bo Peng

    (Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences)

  • Rasa Melnikiene

    (Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences)

  • Tomas Balezentis

    (Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences)

  • Giulio Paolo Agnusdei

    (Pegaso University)

Abstract

This paper seeks to draw a research agenda for unveiling the underlying bottlenecks and possibilities for improving the agricultural total factor productivity in the European Union (EU). To this aim, the paper first surveys the key challenges for the modern agricultural economy. Then, the case of the EU is discussed by looking at the convergence in the partial productivity indicators (including the GHG emission) and growth efficiency that relate to the gap in the total factor productivity growth. The results suggest that the EU member states exhibited growth inefficiency (i.e., a gap in the total factor productivity growth) of 5–9% on average during 2004–2021. The paper also discusses the possibilities to utilize the production theory for assessing the pathways towards improvements in the productivity and sustainability of the EU agriculture.

Suggested Citation

  • Bo Peng & Rasa Melnikiene & Tomas Balezentis & Giulio Paolo Agnusdei, 2024. "Structural dynamics and sustainability in the agricultural sector: the case of the European Union," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agfoec:v:12:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1186_s40100-024-00321-x
    DOI: 10.1186/s40100-024-00321-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s40100-024-00321-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s40100-024-00321-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruno De Borger & Kristiaan Kerstens & Diego Prior & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2013. "Static efficiency decompositions and capacity utilization: integrating economic and technical capacity notions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(24), pages 3529-3529, August.
    2. Giovanni Cesaroni & Kristiaan Kerstens & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2017. "A New Input-Oriented Plant Capacity Notion: Definition and Empirical Comparison," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 720-739, October.
    3. Kristiaan Kerstens & Jafar Sadeghi & Ignace Van de Woestyne & Linjia Zhang, 2022. "Malmquist productivity indices and plant capacity utilisation: new proposals and empirical application," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 315(1), pages 221-250, August.
    4. Lanz, Bruno & Dietz, Simon & Swanson, Tim, 2018. "The Expansion of Modern Agriculture and Global Biodiversity Decline: An Integrated Assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 260-277.
    5. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Bouye, Ahmed Moulaye Hachem & Van de Woestyne, Ignace & Vestergaard, Niels, 2008. "Optimal capacity utilization and reallocation in a German bank branch network: Exploring some strategic scenarios," Working Papers 2008/59, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.
    6. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Sadeghi, Jafar & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2019. "Convex and nonconvex input-oriented technical and economic capacity measures: An empirical comparison," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(2), pages 699-709.
    7. Bruno De Borger & Kristiaan Kerstens, 2000. "The Malmquist Productivity Index and Plant Capacity Utilization," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(2), pages 303-310, June.
    8. Zaim, Osman & Uygurtürk Gazel, Tuğçe & Akkemik, K. Ali, 2017. "Measuring energy intensity in Japan: A new method," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(2), pages 778-789.
    9. Bhagyashree Katare & Hyejin Yim & Anne Byrne & H. Holly Wang & Michael Wetzstein, 2023. "Consumer willingness to pay for environmentally sustainable meat and a plant‐based meat substitute," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(1), pages 145-163, March.
    10. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Kokkelenberg, Edward C, 1989. "Measuring Plant Capacity, Utilization and Technical Change: A Nonparametric Approach," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 30(3), pages 655-666, August.
    11. Zaim, Osman, 2004. "Measuring environmental performance of state manufacturing through changes in pollution intensities: a DEA framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 37-47, January.
    12. Edward B. Barbier & Jacob P. Hochard, 2018. "Land degradation and poverty," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(11), pages 623-631, November.
    13. An, Ning & Thomassin, Paul J., 2015. "The economic impact of climate change on cash crop farms in Quebec and Ontario," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205702, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Wang, H. & Zhou, P., 2018. "Multi-country comparisons of CO2 emission intensity: The production-theoretical decomposition analysis approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 310-320.
    15. Xu, X.Y. & Ang, B.W., 2013. "Index decomposition analysis applied to CO2 emission studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 313-329.
    16. Mirzabaev, Alisher & Strokov, Anton & Krasilnikov, Pavel, 2023. "The impact of land degradation on agricultural profits and implications for poverty reduction in Central Asia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    17. David Tilman & Kenneth G. Cassman & Pamela A. Matson & Rosamond Naylor & Stephen Polasky, 2002. "Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices," Nature, Nature, vol. 418(6898), pages 671-677, August.
    18. Sahar Milani, 2023. "Teaching Environmental Macroeconomics to Undergraduate Students," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 391-407, June.
    19. repec:bla:scandj:v:102:y:2000:i:2:p:303-10 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Jayson Beckman & Amanda M. Countryman, 2021. "The Importance of Agriculture in the Economy: Impacts from COVID‐19," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(5), pages 1595-1611, October.
    21. Habtamu Alem, 2023. "The role of green total factor productivity to farm-level performance: evidence from Norwegian dairy farms," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.
    22. Lajos Baráth & Imre Fertő, 2024. "The relationship between the ecologisation of farms and total factor productivity: A continuous treatment analysis," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 404-424, February.
    23. Orea, Luis & Zofío, José L., 2017. "A primer on the theory and practice of efficiency and productivity analysis," Efficiency Series Papers 2017/05, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    24. Latruffe, Laure & Diazabakana, Ambre & Bockstaller, Christian & Desjeux, Yann & Finn, John & Kelly, Edel & Ryan, Mary & Uthes, Sandra, 2016. "Measurement of sustainability in agriculture: a review of indicators," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 118(3), pages 1-8, December.
    25. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2016. "Undesirable congestion under natural disposability and desirable congestion under managerial disposability in U.S. electric power industry measured by DEA environmental assessment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 173-188.
    26. Atakelty Hailu & Terrence S. Veeman, 2001. "Non-parametric Productivity Analysis with Undesirable Outputs: An Application to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 605-616.
    27. Lin, Boqiang & Du, Kerui, 2014. "Decomposing energy intensity change: A combination of index decomposition analysis and production-theoretical decomposition analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 158-165.
    28. Hayami, Yujiro & Ruttan, Vernon W, 1970. "Agricultural Productivity Differences Among Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(5), pages 895-911, December.
    29. Guilló, María Dolores & Magalhães, Manuela, 2023. "Land capital and emissions convergence in an extended Green Solow model," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 25-46, February.
    30. B. K. Sahoo & K. Kerstens & K. Tone, 2012. "Returns to growth in a non parametric DEA approach," Post-Print hal-00684430, HAL.
    31. Muchuan Niu & Sheng Zhang & Nannan Zhang & Zuhui Wen & Meng Xu & Yifu Yang, 2022. "Progress in the Research of Environmental Macroeconomics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-13, January.
    32. Alina Haller, 2022. "Influence of Agricultural Chains on the Carbon Footprint in the Context of European Green Pact and Crises," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-19, May.
    33. Edward B. Barbier & Jacob P. Hochard, 2019. "Poverty-Environment Traps," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(3), pages 1239-1271, November.
    34. Lukáš Čechura & Zdeňka Žáková Kroupová & Michaela Lekešová, 2022. "Productivity and efficiency in Czech agriculture: Does farm size matter?," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 68(1), pages 1-10.
    35. Ferguson,C. E., 2008. "The Neoclassical Theory of Production and Distribution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521076296, January.
    36. Wang, H. & Zhou, P. & Xie, Bai-Chen & Zhang, N., 2019. "Assessing drivers of CO2 emissions in China's electricity sector: A metafrontier production-theoretical decomposition analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(3), pages 1096-1107.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Kristiaan KERSTENS & Xiaoqing CHEN, 2022. "Evaluating Horizontal Mergers in Swedish District Courts Using Plant Capacity Concepts: With a Focus on Nonconvexity," Working Papers 2022-EQM-02, IESEG School of Management.
    2. Kristiaan Kerstens & Jafar Sadeghi & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2020. "Plant capacity notions in a non-parametric framework: a brief review and new graph or non-oriented plant capacities," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 288(2), pages 837-860, May.
    3. Cesaroni, Giovanni & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2019. "Short- and long-run plant capacity notions: Definitions and comparison," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(1), pages 387-397.
    4. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Shen, Zhiyang, 2021. "Using COVID-19 mortality to select among hospital plant capacity models: An exploratory empirical application to Hubei province," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    5. Zhuo-wan Liu & Tomas Balezentis & Yao-yao Song & Guo-liang Yang, 2019. "Estimating Capacity Utilization of Chinese State Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-29, September.
    6. Tao, Xiangyang & An, Qingxian & Goh, Mark, 2024. "Plant capacity utilization with piecewise Cobb-Douglas technology: Definition and interpretation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 316(3), pages 1034-1043.
    7. Song, Malin & Zhou, Wenzhuo & Upadhyay, Arvind & Shen, Zhiyang, 2023. "Evaluating hospital performance with plant capacity utilization and machine learning," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    8. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Sadeghi, Jafar & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2019. "Convex and nonconvex input-oriented technical and economic capacity measures: An empirical comparison," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(2), pages 699-709.
    9. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Song, Yao-yao & Ren, Xian-tong & Yang, Guo-liang, 2022. "Using a novel DEA-based model to investigate capacity utilization of Chinese firms," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Zhou, P. & Zhang, H. & Zhang, L.P., 2022. "The drivers of energy intensity changes in Chinese cities: A production-theoretical decomposition analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    11. Giovanni Cesaroni & Kristiaan Kerstens & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2017. "A New Input-Oriented Plant Capacity Notion: Definition and Empirical Comparison," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 720-739, October.
    12. Wang, Hui & Li, Rupeng & Zhang, Ning & Zhou, Peng & Wang, Qiang, 2020. "Assessing the role of technology in global manufacturing energy intensity change: A production-theoretical decomposition analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    13. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Li, Aijun & Liu, Xiaohong, 2019. "Exploring sources of China's CO2 emission: Decomposition analysis under different technology changes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 279(3), pages 984-995.
    14. Lin, Boqiang & Wang, Miao, 2021. "What drives energy intensity fall in China? Evidence from a meta-frontier approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    15. See, Kok Fong & Rashid, Azwan Abdul & Yu, Ming-Miin, 2024. "Measuring the network capacity utilization, energy consumption and environmental inefficiency of global airlines," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    16. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Liu, Hui-hui & Song, Yao-yao & Yang, Guo-liang, 2021. "Measuring the capacity utilization of the 48 largest iron and steel enterprises in China," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(2), pages 648-665.
    17. Yao Qian & Lang Sun & Quanyi Qiu & Lina Tang & Xiaoqi Shang & Chengxiu Lu, 2020. "Analysis of CO 2 Drivers and Emissions Forecast in a Typical Industry-Oriented County: Changxing County, China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.
    18. Chu, Junfei & Shao, Caifeng & Emrouznejad, Ali & Wu, Jie & Yuan, Zhe, 2021. "Performance evaluation of organizations considering economic incentives for emission reduction: A carbon emission permit trading approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    19. Kristiaan Kerstens & Jafar Sadeghi & Ignace Van de Woestyne & Linjia Zhang, 2022. "Malmquist productivity indices and plant capacity utilisation: new proposals and empirical application," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 315(1), pages 221-250, August.
    20. Bruno De Borger & Kristiaan Kerstens & Diego Prior & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2013. "Static efficiency decompositions and capacity utilization: integrating economic and technical capacity notions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(24), pages 3529-3529, August.

    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:spr:agfoec:v:12:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1186_s40100-024-00321-x. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.