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Are farms with higher animal welfare levels rationally inefficient? The case of Swiss Dairy Producers
This thesis will empirically investigate the level of rational inefficiency in Swiss dairy production with respect to animal welfare.
Keywords: Animal welfare, efficiency analysis, rational inefficiency, Swiss dairy production
The concept of technical efficiency measures the ability of farms to maximize output given a certain level of inputs. However, some farms may deliberately produce less than maximum output. For example, it can be rational for dairy farmers to increase animal welfare beyond the level of optimal milk yield if they gain non-use values from animal welfare related to the well-being of the farm animals (McInerney 2004; Lagerkvist et al. 2011). In two recent empirical studies, Hansson et al. (2020) and Adamie and Hansson (2021) estimated the level of animal welfare-related rational inefficiencies among Swedish dairy farms. This master’s thesis will apply the same methods to data from Swiss dairy farmers. Alternative indicators for farm animal welfare shall test the robustness of the results.
**Research questions**
- What indicators for farm animal welfare can be used?
- What is the level of rational inefficiency with respect to animal welfare in Swiss dairy production?
- How robust are the results to the use of alternative indicators?
**Methods**
The master’s thesis will use either data envelopment analysis (DEA) or stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to measure rational inefficiency in Swiss dairy production that arise due to farm animal welfare. The same conceptual framework as in Hansson et al. (2020) and Adamie and Hansson (2021) will be used. The results will be compared to the authors’ empirical case of Sweden, and the robustness of the results will be assessed using alternative animal welfare indicators. Swiss farm-level accountancy data will be provided to the student. The thesis is jointly supervised by the AECP group and Agroscope.
**Literatur**
Adamie, B. A. and Hansson, H. (2021). “Rationalising inefficiency in dairy production: evidence from an over-time approach”. European Review of Agricultural Economics. (in press).
Hansson, H., Manevska-Tasevska, G., and Asmild, M. (2020). “Rationalising inefficiency in agricultural production–the case of Swedish dairy agriculture”. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 47(1): 1-24.
Lagerkvist, C. J., Hansson, H., Hess, S., and Hoffman, R. (2011). “Provision of farm animal welfare: Integrating productivity and non-use values”. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 33(4): 484-509.
McInerney, J. (2004). “Animal welfare, economics and policy”. Report on a study undertaken for the Farm & Animal Health Economics Division of Defra, 68.
The concept of technical efficiency measures the ability of farms to maximize output given a certain level of inputs. However, some farms may deliberately produce less than maximum output. For example, it can be rational for dairy farmers to increase animal welfare beyond the level of optimal milk yield if they gain non-use values from animal welfare related to the well-being of the farm animals (McInerney 2004; Lagerkvist et al. 2011). In two recent empirical studies, Hansson et al. (2020) and Adamie and Hansson (2021) estimated the level of animal welfare-related rational inefficiencies among Swedish dairy farms. This master’s thesis will apply the same methods to data from Swiss dairy farmers. Alternative indicators for farm animal welfare shall test the robustness of the results.
**Research questions**
- What indicators for farm animal welfare can be used?
- What is the level of rational inefficiency with respect to animal welfare in Swiss dairy production?
- How robust are the results to the use of alternative indicators?
**Methods**
The master’s thesis will use either data envelopment analysis (DEA) or stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to measure rational inefficiency in Swiss dairy production that arise due to farm animal welfare. The same conceptual framework as in Hansson et al. (2020) and Adamie and Hansson (2021) will be used. The results will be compared to the authors’ empirical case of Sweden, and the robustness of the results will be assessed using alternative animal welfare indicators. Swiss farm-level accountancy data will be provided to the student. The thesis is jointly supervised by the AECP group and Agroscope.
**Literatur**
Adamie, B. A. and Hansson, H. (2021). “Rationalising inefficiency in dairy production: evidence from an over-time approach”. European Review of Agricultural Economics. (in press).
Hansson, H., Manevska-Tasevska, G., and Asmild, M. (2020). “Rationalising inefficiency in agricultural production–the case of Swedish dairy agriculture”. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 47(1): 1-24.
Lagerkvist, C. J., Hansson, H., Hess, S., and Hoffman, R. (2011). “Provision of farm animal welfare: Integrating productivity and non-use values”. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 33(4): 484-509.
McInerney, J. (2004). “Animal welfare, economics and policy”. Report on a study undertaken for the Farm & Animal Health Economics Division of Defra, 68.
The goal of this thesis is to assess whether Swiss dairy farmers are rationally inefficient (Hansson et al. 2018) by foregoing output to increase animal welfare.
The goal of this thesis is to assess whether Swiss dairy farmers are rationally inefficient (Hansson et al. 2018) by foregoing output to increase animal welfare.
Supervision: Stefan Wimmer (swimmer@ethz.ch), Robert Finger (rofinger@ethz.ch) and Christian Mueller (Agroscope)
Supervision: Stefan Wimmer (swimmer@ethz.ch), Robert Finger (rofinger@ethz.ch) and Christian Mueller (Agroscope)