IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tea/wpaper/0817.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Explaining the variability in the Economic Performance of Irish Dairy Farmers 1998-2006

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Smyth

    (Rural Economy and Development Programme, Teagasc, Athenry, Co. Galway, Ireland)

  • Anne Marie Butler

    (School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Ireland)

  • Thia Hennessy

    (Rural Economy and Development Programme, Teagasc, Athenry, Co. Galway, Ireland)

Abstract

This paper reviews the economic performance of Irish dairy farms over the period 1998 to 2006 with the objective of identifying the factors influencing cost structure. Initial analysis reveals that a large variation in cost structure exists in the Irish dairy farming sector, and that this variation has increased over time. Econometric techniques are employed to examine the variation in cost structures and to identify the factors affecting farm profitability. National Farm Survey data from Ireland are used to analyse production costs. Average cost curves are shown for the Irish dairy industry and are compared to the results of similar analysis conducted for England and Wales. The results show that increasing yield per cow and stocking rate decreases costs implying that scale and improving efficiency is key to reducing cost. An analysis of cost mobility showed that cost structure was quite sticky, and that relative cost management improved little over the period, with the majority of high cost farmers remaining high cost.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Smyth & Anne Marie Butler & Thia Hennessy, 2008. "Explaining the variability in the Economic Performance of Irish Dairy Farmers 1998-2006," Working Papers 0817, Rural Economy and Development Programme,Teagasc.
    • Handle: RePEc:tea:wpaper:0817
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.teagasc.ie/rural-economy/downloads/workingpapers/08WPRE17.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2008
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Euan Phimister & Deborah Roberts & Alana Gilbert, 2004. "The Dynamics of Farm Incomes: Panel data analysis using the Farm Accounts Survey," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 197-220, July.
    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. Jan Fałkowski & Maciej Jakubowski & Paweł Strawiński, 2014. "Returns from income strategies in rural Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 22(1), pages 139-178, January.
    2. Geoffroy Enjolras & Magali Aubert, 2018. "Does crop insurance lead to better environmental practices? Evidence from French farms," Post-Print hal-02048349, HAL.
    3. O'Neill,Stephen & Loughrey, Jason & Hynes, Stephen & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Hanrahan, Kevin, 2017. "The Redistributive Impact of EU Farm Payment Reforms in the UK and Ireland," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 261107, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Geoffroy Enjolras & Magali Aubert, 2020. "How does crop insurance influence pesticide use? Evidence from French farms," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 101(4), pages 461-485, December.
    5. Maria Marino & Benedetto Rocchi & Simone Severini, 2021. "Conditional Income Disparity between Farm and Non‐farm Households in the European Union: A Longitudinal Analysis," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 589-606, June.
    6. Runowski, Henryk, 2021. "Types And Structure Of Budget Support Instruments For Agricultural Producers In The Scope Of Cap," Roczniki (Annals), Polish Association of Agricultural Economists and Agribusiness - Stowarzyszenie Ekonomistow Rolnictwa e Agrobiznesu (SERiA), vol. 2021(1).
    7. Paul Allanson & Kalina Kasprzyk & Andrew P. Barnes, 2017. "Income Mobility and Income Inequality in Scottish Agriculture," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(2), pages 471-493, June.
    8. Katarzyna Smędzik-Ambroży & Marta Guth & Sebastian Stępień & Agnieszka Brelik, 2019. "The Influence of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy on the Socio-Economic Sustainability of Farms (the Case of Poland)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Enjolras, Geoffroy & Capitanio, Fabian & Aubert, Magali & Adinolfi, Felice, 2012. "Direct payments, crop insurance and the volatility of farm income. Some evidence in France and in Italy," 123rd Seminar, February 23-24, 2012, Dublin, Ireland 122478, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Berkeley Hill, 2008. "Some Economics of Public Statistics," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 387-420, September.
    11. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2019. "The Political Economy Dynamics of Rural Household Income Diversification: A Review of the International Literature," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 273-290, December.
    12. repec:ags:ijag24:344512 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Runowski, Henryk, 2018. "Differences in income of the agricultural population between European Union countries and directions of their changes," Village and Agriculture (Wieś i Rolnictwo), Polish Academy of Sciences (IRWiR PAN), Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, vol. 179(2), June.
    14. Runowski, Henryk, 2020. "Dilemmas Of Measuring And Evaluating Income In Agriculture In The European Union," Roczniki (Annals), Polish Association of Agricultural Economists and Agribusiness - Stowarzyszenie Ekonomistow Rolnictwa e Agrobiznesu (SERiA), vol. 2020(1).

    More about this item

    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:tea:wpaper:0817. 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: John Lennon (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/reteaie.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.