| 1. |
- Hansson, Helena, et al.
(författare)
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Factors influencing the strategic decision to further develop dairy production - A study of farmers in central Sweden
- 2011
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Ingår i: Livestock Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 1871-1413 .- 1878-0490. ; 135, s. 110-123
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article presents results from a study of the factors underlying the strategic decision of 313 dairy farmers in central Sweden to further develop their milk production. Using a structural equation modelling methodology, four categories of factors - the decision structure, the farm's business structure, the cognitive structure of the farmer, and the farm's network structure - have been individually analyzed, and are each found to explain the plan to further develop the farm's milk production, as opposed to continuing without further development or exiting production. These results are an important step toward developing an integrated model of strategic decision-making, where the resources and capabilities of the farm business lead the firm to its development plans. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 2. |
- Hansson, Helena, et al.
(författare)
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Which preventive measures against mastitis can increase the technical efficiency of dairy farms?
- 2011
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Ingår i: Animal. - 1751-7311 .- 1751-732X. ; 5, s. 632-640
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this paper was to explore if, and in that case how, various preventive measures against mastitis influenced the whole-farm economic outcome, measured as technical efficiency, of a sample of specialised dairy farms in Sweden. In particular, the paper aimed at analysing whether a change to preventive measures applied by fully efficient farms would be a way for inefficient farms to become fully efficient. First, technical efficiency was assessed for each farm in the sample based on farm-level accounting data and the data envelopment analysis. In a second step, the effects of preventive measures against mastitis (collected through a mail questionnaire) on technical efficiency were assessed with logistic regression. Keeping cows in a loose-housing barn, stimulating udders manually during milking, and having cows standing on clean bedding during milking were found to significantly increase the probability of a farm being fully efficient. Once the farmer considers the somatic cell count (SCC) to be too high, undertaking measures such as contacting a veterinarian, checking overall hygiene routines, and culling cows with high SCC were found to significantly increase the probability of a farm being fully efficient. Thus, these measures may be plausible targets for advisory services aimed at assisting farmers to become fully efficient, especially if they are confirmed in future studies. Several common preventive measures against mastitis, that is, choice of bedding material, frequency of cleaning stalls, pre-milking, post-milking teat disinfection, applying a milking order based on the SCC of cows, and milking high-SCC cows with a separate cluster, were found to have no statistically significant effect on farm economic outcome. However, these measures may still be valuable for non-economic goals, such as increased animal welfare, and the results imply that they can be implemented without negative impact on the economic performance of the farm.
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| 3. |
- Lagerkvist, Carl-Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Provision of Farm Animal Welfare: Integrating Productivity and Non-Use Values
- 2011
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Ingår i: Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. - : Wiley. - 2040-5790 .- 2040-5804. ; 33, s. 484-509
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Decisions made by livestock producers inevitably determine the extent of actual farm animal welfare (FAW) provision in livestock production. This article identify key issues in the identification and empirical measurement of farmer's preferences for FAW-related, non-use values to encourage theoretically-sound future research to address relevant potential producer trade-off such as those between use and non-use values with consequences for the total amount of FAW provisions to be delivered to society. Producer preferences for specific non-use values, as well as their overall strength of preferences for non-use values relative to use values will determine their provision of FAW. Investment and/or adjustment costs, however, may prevent producers from changing their production system to their preferred choice and economic welfare measures will be biased whenever such costs are neglected.
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| 4. |
- Hansson, Helena, et al.
(författare)
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Successful implementation of new strategies in the farm business – Facilitators and inhibitions found at Swedish sugar beet farms
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal Of International Farm Management. - 1816-2495. ; 5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper aimed at relating the implementation success of new action programs in farm businesses to the nature of the program and to personal characteristics and situation of the farmer. Hypotheses about how the nature of the action program and personal characteristics and situation of the farmer influence implementation success, defined as the extent to which the program solved the problem it was intended to solve, were developed and tested in a generalized logits model. The study was based on the observed implementation success among Swedish sugar beet farmers, who implemented action programs in response to the recent sugar beet reform. Data were collected through a postal questionnaire sent to a random sample of Swedish sugar beet farmers. Results showed that successful implementation of action programs was related to action programs that do not allow for incremental implementation, i.e. a situation where a more thorough change is done directly. Furthermore, successful implementation was found to be related to internal locus of control, absence of other major problems, and to analytical approaches to interpreting information. The results provided a ground for discussing how farm advisory services can be improved to help farmers to successfully implement new action plans
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| 5. |
- Hansson, Helena, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding the diversification and specialization of farm businesses
- 2010
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Ingår i: Agricultural and Food Science. - : Agricultural and Food Science. - 1459-6067 .- 1795-1895. ; 19, s. 269-283
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper addresses the development of farm businesses in Sweden, 2000-2007, with regard to their specialization in single farm enterprises, diversified agricultural production and diversification with new income-generating ventures. Furthermore, regression analysis is used to study the impact of farm characteristics on the observed specialization and diversification. The study is based a panel data set of about 900 farms participating in the Swedish Agricultural Economics Survey. Results show that farms are increasingly engaging in diversified activities, though in most firms these activities make only minor contributions to total revenue. Results also show that the degrees of specialization and diversification are influenced by characteristics of firms' business structure, financial and demographic conditions. These results contribute to the understanding of farm business development, as well as show the need for policy makers and farm advisors to consider the differences between farms pursuing different development strategies in their efforts to influence behavior.
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| 6. |
- Manevska Tasevska, Gordana, et al.
(författare)
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Does Managerial Behavior Determine Farm Technical Efficiency? A Case of Grape Production in an Economy in Transition
- 2011
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Ingår i: Managerial and Decision Economics. - : Wiley. - 0143-6570 .- 1099-1468. ; 32, s. 399–412-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explores how farmers’ managerial behavior in their production planning processes influences the economic performance of their farms, measured through input-oriented and output-oriented technical efficiency. A conceptual framework in which differences in managerial behavior were assumed to be due to bounded rationality was developed. The 3-year means (2006–2008) from a panel data set on grape-producing family farms in FYR Macedonia were analyzed. Technical efficiency was estimated with the nonparametric data envelopment analysis approach. The impact of farmers’ managerial behavior was assessed in a second-stage regression. The results suggest that bounded rationality in farmers’ production planning decisions causes inefficiency
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| 7. |
- Manevska Tasevska, Gordana, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluating the potential effectiveness of Rural Development Programme targets on farms in FYR Macedonia – An efficiency study of grape-growing family farms
- 2011
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Ingår i: Food Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2164-828X. ; 8, s. 161-172
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The validity of the Rural Development Program (RDP) targets chosen by government for farms in Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia was examined by evaluating the influence of these targets on the farm efficiency. The method comprises two steps, with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) applied to calculate farm efficiency in the first step and a Tobit regression analysis to examine the influence of RDP targets on efficiency in the second step. Farm-level data from a 2006-2008 survey were used to examine RDP measures targeted at stable yield, yield improvement and modernisation of equipment. The results indicate huge potential for efficiency improvement. More efficient farms used a smaller area, irrigated a smaller proportion of their total area, used less hired labour and used and paid less for inputs, but produced a larger quantity, with higher value per hectare. It was shown that not all the RDP targets implemented to improve efficiency were justified
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| 8. |
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