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Abstract
One of the aims of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is to increase
the competitiveness of farmers through increasing their exposure to markets. An
aspect of competitiveness is the gains in economic efficiency. Thus, the purpose of this
paper is to estimate indicators of farm efficiency for the period 1989 to 2008 by farm
type and to analyse what the effect on efficiency of changes in the CAP has been. In
terms of the methodology, the information used comes from the Scottish Farm
Account Scheme (FAS) survey, which allows us to assemble panel dataset and to
construct cost efficiency indicators. The results indicate while mixed farms and
lowland farms have maintain their levels of efficiency. LFA farms have seen their
efficiency reduced since approximately 2004 or 2005 (especially LFA sheep farm
specialists). Also, the analysis shows that there seems to be an increase in the
dispersion of farmers in terms of efficiency for some farm types in periods of change
in agricultural policy.