Defining low input dairy farms across European countries: a frontier approach

Low input (LI) dairy farms are commonly associated with low concentrate, pesticide and fertilizer use in grazing or forage-based systems. Currently, LI farms are defined by a ratio that solely includes input use. However, in order to have an idea of their economic performance, outputs also need to be included. In this paper, we use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to identify LI farms and investigate the added value of this approach compared to using the ratio indicator based on solely input use. A within and between countries analysis is performed to get a view of LI farming throughout Europe. We use European FADN data of 2011 containing 16.135 dairy farms. To account for the efficiency of dairy production, external inputs and hectare forage are chosen as the two main operational inputs. Number of dairy cows is selected as an extra input to include farm size. The effect of whether or not adding labor as an input is examined. Milk production is chosen as output. Results show that farms defined as LI based on the ratio measure, highly differ in input efficiency. This variation in technical efficiency differs from country to country and reveals country-specific avenues for efficiency improvements.