IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/cudawp/57034.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Conservation Reserve Program, Off-Farm Work, and Farm Household Technical Efficiencies

Author

Listed:
  • Chang, Hung-Hao
  • Boisvert, Richard N.

Abstract

Using data from a national survey of farm households in the United States, this paper examines the effects of farm households’ decisions to participate in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and to work off the farm on the technical efficiency of farm household production. After controlling for the self selection bias in estimating the multiple output-oriented distance functions, results show that operators’ decisions to work off the farm (both separately and combined with participation in CRP) lead to higher technical efficiencies for farm household production— implying improvements in the resource allocation between farm and other productive activities by farm households. The technical efficiencies of household production of those farm households participating only in the CRP are lower.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang, Hung-Hao & Boisvert, Richard N., 2009. "The Conservation Reserve Program, Off-Farm Work, and Farm Household Technical Efficiencies," Working Papers 57034, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:cudawp:57034
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.57034
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/57034/files/AEM%20WP0933.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.57034?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. E. Phimister & D. Roberts, 2006. "The Effect of Off-farm Work on the Intensity of Agricultural Production," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 34(4), pages 493-515, August.
    2. Parks, Peter J. & Schorr, James P., 1997. "Sustaining Open Space Benefits in the Northeast: An Evaluation of the Conservation Reserve Program," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 85-94, January.
    3. Richard Nehring & Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo & David Banker, 2005. "Off-farm labour and the structure of US agriculture: the case of corn/soybean farms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6), pages 633-649.
    4. Jean-Paul Chavas & Ragan Petrie & Michael Roth, 2005. "Farm Household Production Efficiency: Evidence from The Gambia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(1), pages 160-179.
    5. Barry K. Goodwin & Ashok K. Mishra, 2006. "Are “Decoupled” Farm Program Payments Really Decoupled? An Empirical Evaluation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 88(1), pages 73-89.
    6. Isik, Murat & Yang, Wanhong, 2004. "An Analysis of the Effects of Uncertainty and Irreversibility on Farmer Participation in the Conservation Reserve Program," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 29(2), pages 1-18, August.
    7. Susan Offutt, 2002. "The Future of Farm Policy Analysis: A Household Perspective," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1189-1200.
    8. Catherine J. Morrison Paul & Warren E. Johnston & Gerald A. G. Frengley, 2000. "Efficiency in New Zealand Sheep and Beef Farming: The Impacts of Regulatory Reform," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(2), pages 325-337, May.
    9. France Caillavet & Herve Guyomard & Robert Lifran & . Esr. Département d'Economie Et Sociologie Ruralesivry, 1994. "Agricultural household modelling and family economics [[Modélisation des ménages agricoles et économie de la famille]]," Post-Print hal-02846786, HAL.
    10. Catherine Benjamin & . Esr. Département d'Economie Et Sociologie Rurales, 1991. "Off-farm work decisions of French agricultural households," Post-Print hal-01931702, HAL.
    11. González, María A & Lopez, Rigoberto A, 2007. "Political Violence and Farm Household Efficiency in Colombia," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(2), pages 367-392, January.
    12. Vukina, Tomislav & Zheng, Xiaoyong & Marra, Michele & Levy, Armando, 2008. "Do farmers value the environment? Evidence from a conservation reserve program auction," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1323-1332, November.
    13. Lee, Lung-Fei, 1983. "Generalized Econometric Models with Selectivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(2), pages 507-512, March.
    14. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    15. David A. Hennessy, 1998. "The Production Effects of Agricultural Income Support Policies under Uncertainty," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(1), pages 46-57.
    16. Timothy J. Coelli & D.S. Prasada Rao & Christopher J. O’Donnell & George E. Battese, 2005. "An Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis," Springer Books, Springer, edition 0, number 978-0-387-25895-9, December.
    17. Duke, Joshua M., 2004. "Participation in Agricultural Land Preservation Programs: Parcel Quality and a Complex Policy Environment," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(1), pages 34-49, April.
    18. Hung-Hao Chang & Richard N. Boisvert, 2009. "Distinguishing between Whole-Farm vs. Partial-Farm Participation in the Conservation Reserve Program," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 85(1), pages 144-161.
    19. Bruce L. Gardner, 2000. "Economic Growth and Low Incomes in Agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1059-1074.
    20. W. David Bradford & Andrew N. Kleit & Marie A. Krousel-Wood & Richard N. Re, 2001. "Stochastic Frontier Estimation Of Cost Models Within The Hospital," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(2), pages 302-309, May.
    21. Tim Coelli & Sergio Perelman, 2000. "Technical efficiency of European railways: a distance function approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(15), pages 1967-1976.
    22. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    23. Russell Davidson & Jean-Yves Duclos, 2000. "Statistical Inference for Stochastic Dominance and for the Measurement of Poverty and Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(6), pages 1435-1464, November.
    24. Mei-Ying Huang & Cliff Huang & Tsu-Tan Fu, 2002. "Cultivation Arrangements and the Cost Efficiency of Rice Farming in Taiwan," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 223-239, November.
    25. Grosskopf, S. & Hayes, K. & Hirschberg, J., 1995. "Fiscal stress and the production of public safety: A distance function approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 277-296, June.
    26. Barry K. Goodwin & Ashok K. Mishra, 2004. "Farming Efficiency and the Determinants of Multiple Job Holding by Farm Operators," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(3), pages 722-729.
    27. Paul, Catherine J. Morrison & Nehring, Richard, 2005. "Product diversification, production systems, and economic performance in U.S. agricultural production," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 525-548, June.
    28. Mitali Das & Whitney K. Newey & Francis Vella, 2003. "Nonparametric Estimation of Sample Selection Models," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(1), pages 33-58.
    29. Olson, Jerome A. & Schmidt, Peter & Waldman, Donald M., 1980. "A Monte Carlo study of estimators of stochastic frontier production functions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 67-82, May.
    30. Rulon D. Pope & Rod F. Ziemer, 1984. "Stochastic Efficiency, Normality, and Sampling Errors in Agricultural Risk Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 66(1), pages 31-40.
    31. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    32. Awudu Abdulai & Christopher L. Delgado, 1999. "Determinants of Nonfarm Earnings of Farm-Based Husbands and Wives in Northern Ghana," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(1), pages 117-130.
    33. Mundlak, Yair, 1996. "Production Function Estimation: Reviving the Primal," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(2), pages 431-438, March.
    34. Dubman, Robert, 2000. "Variance Estimation With USDA's Farm Costs and Returns Surveys and Agricultural Resource Management Study Surveys," Staff Reports 276685, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    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. Elias Giannakis & Sophia Efstratoglou & Artemis Antoniades, 2018. "Off-Farm Employment and Economic Crisis: Evidence from Cyprus," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-11, March.
    2. Muhammad Amjed Iqbal & Muhammad Rizwan & Azhar Abbas & Muhammad Sohail Amjad Makhdum & Rakhshanda Kousar & Muhammad Nazam & Abdus Samie & Nasir Nadeem, 2021. "A Quest for Livelihood Sustainability? Patterns, Motives and Determinants of Non-Farm Income Diversification among Agricultural Households in Punjab, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Md.Salamun Rashidin & Sara Javed & Bin Liu & Wang Jian, 2020. "Ramifications of Households’ Nonfarm Income on Agricultural Productivity: Evidence From a Rural Area of Pakistan," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    4. Tur Cardona, Juan & Wailes, Eric J. & Dixon, Bruce L. & Danforth, Diana M., 2012. "Analysis of Participation in Multifunctional Agriculture: U.S. Rice Farms," Staff Papers 119750, University of Arkansas, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness.
    5. Tur Cardona, Juan & Wailes, Eric J. & Dixon, Bruce L. & Danforth, Diana M., 2012. "Analysis of Participation in Multifunctional Agriculture: U.S. Rice Farms," 2012 Annual Meeting, February 4-7, 2012, Birmingham, Alabama 119768, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    6. Xie, Xianxiong & Cui, Yu & Yao, Liuyang & Ni, Qi & Khan, Sufyan Ullah & Zhao, Minjuan, 2022. "Does fallow policy affect rural household income in poor areas? A quasi-experimental evidence from fallow pilot area in Northwest China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

    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. Chang, Hung-Hao & Boisvert, Richard N., 2006. "Participation in the Conservation Reserve Program and Off-Farm Work: Implications for Farm and Farm Household Productivity," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21147, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    2. Chang, Hung-Hao & Boisvert, Richard N., 2009. "Does Participation in the Conservation Reserve Program and/or Off-Farm Work Affect the Level and Distribution of Farm Household Income?," Working Papers 57035, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    3. Boisvert, Richard N. & Chang, Hung-Hao, 2005. "Explaining Participation in the Conservation Reserve Program and its Effects on Farm Productivity and Efficiency," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19321, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    4. Chang, Hung-Hao & Boisvert, Richard N., 2005. "Are Farmers' Decisions to Work off the Farm and Participate in the Conservation Reserve Program Independent, Joint or Sequential?," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19474, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Boisvert, Richard N. & Chang, Hung-Hao, 2006. "Does Participation in the Conservation Reserve Program and Off-Farm Work Affect the Level and Distribution of Farm Household Incomes?," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21277, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Ogundari, K. & Brümmer, Bernhard, 2011. "Estimating Technical Efficiency, Input substitution and complementary effects using Output Distance Function: A study of Cassava production in Nigeria," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 12(2).
    7. Nguyen, Huy, 2014. "Crop diversification, economic performance and household’s behaviours Evidence from Vietnam," MPRA Paper 59090, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Mishra, Ashok K. & Nehring, Richard F. & Hendricks, Chad & Southern, Malaya & Gregory, Alexandra, 2007. "Off-Farm Income, Technology Adoption, And Farm Economic Performance," Economic Research Report 7234, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. Nehring, Richard F. & Banker, David E. & O'Donoghue, Erik J., 2003. "Have Hog Producers with Production Contracts Maintained an Economic Advantage over Independent Hog Producers in Recent Years?," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22057, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    10. Sean Pascoe & Phoebe Koundouri & Trond Bjørndal, 2007. "Estimating Targeting Ability in Multi-Species Fisheries: A Primal Multi-Output Distance Function Approach," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 83(3), pages 382-397.
    11. Carter, Colin A. & Estrin, Andrew J., 2001. "Market Reforms Versus Structural Reforms in Rural China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 527-541, September.
    12. Nehring, Richard F. & Christensen, Lee A. & O'Donoghue, Erik J. & Sandretto, Carmen L., 2003. "Manure and Commercial Fertilizer Nutrients Relative to Cropland and Pasture Requirements: Is the Pollution Risk Growing on Corn/Livestock Farms?," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 21980, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Kamiche Zegarra, J. & Bravo-Ureta, B., 2018. "Are users of market information efficient? A stochastic production frontier model corrected by sample selection," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275870, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Stefano Mainardi, 2021. "Parametric and Semiparametric Efficiency Frontiers in Fishery Analysis: Overview and Case Study on the Falkland Islands," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 79(2), pages 169-210, June.
    15. Kellermann, Magnus & Salhofer, Klaus, 2011. "Comparing productivity growth in conventional and grassland dairy farms," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114763, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Ariel Gustavo Letti & Mauricio Vaz Lobo Bittencourt & Luis E. Vila, 2022. "Stochastic vs. deterministic frontier distance output function: Evidence from Brazilian higher education institutions," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 55-74, August.
    17. Luigi Brighi & Paolo Silvestri, 2019. "Inefficiency in Childcare Production: Evidence from Italian Microdata," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 5(1), pages 103-133, March.
    18. Luigi Brighi & Paolo Silvestri, 2016. "Inefficiency in Childcare Production. Evidence from Italian Microdata," Center for Economic Research (RECent) 117, University of Modena and Reggio E., Dept. of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    19. Subal Kumbhakar & Gudbrand Lien & J. Hardaker, 2014. "Technical efficiency in competing panel data models: a study of Norwegian grain farming," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 321-337, April.
    20. Huang, Wei & Bruemmer, Bernhard & Huntsinger, Lynn, 2016. "Incorporating measures of grassland productivity into efficiency estimates for livestock grazing on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-11.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agribusiness; Agricultural Finance; Farm Management;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ags:cudawp:57034. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dacorus.html .

    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.