Abstract
Agriculture in Scotland is facing immense challenges for the future. Scottish policy now promotes sustainable
economic growth, which to many implies both a growth in resource use and the requirement
to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Attempts to increase economic gains can be in
conflict with environmental aims and the question arises how both objectives can be met simultaneously.
This paper examines the relationship between the technical and environmental efficiency of dairy farms
in Scotland with respect to greenhouse gas emissions. It estimates the technical efficiency of a sample of
dairy farms based on survey data, applying a number of approaches based on the non-parametric Data
Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The farms’ greenhouse gas emissions are calculated using a variety
of sources and were used to estimate environmental efficiency. This paper finds that, within the study
sample, farms which are more technically efficient, are bigger or have higher yields are also more efficient
in their emissions of GHG emissions.
These results suggest that the potential exists for, Scottish dairying to improve its competitiveness
and lower greenhouse gas emissions by increasing efficiency, though the extent of the environmental
benefits achieved largely depends on how efficiency is increased.
© 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 478 - 488 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Ecological Indicators |
Volume | 29 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Print publication - Jun 2013 |
Bibliographical note
1023376Keywords
- Agriculture
- Dairy
- Environmental efficiency
- Greenhouse Gas
- Scotland
- Technical efficiency