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Technology Adoption and Technical Efficiency: Organic and Conventional Dairy Farms in the United States
Author(s) -
Mayen Carlos D.,
Balagtas Joseph V.,
Alexander Corinne E.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.1093/ajae/aap018
Subject(s) - productivity , matching (statistics) , homogeneous , organic farming , agricultural science , agriculture , dairy industry , propensity score matching , selection (genetic algorithm) , resource (disambiguation) , agricultural economics , business , economics , environmental science , mathematics , computer science , statistics , geography , food science , computer network , chemistry , archaeology , combinatorics , artificial intelligence , macroeconomics
We compare productivity and technical efficiency of organic and conventional dairy farms in the United States. We address self‐selection into organic farming by using propensity score matching and explicitly test the hypothesis that organic and conventional farms employ a single, homogeneous technology. Utilizing the 2005 Agricultural Resource Management Survey on Dairy Costs and Returns Report (ARMS) data, we reject the homogeneous technology hypothesis and find that the organic dairy technology is approximately 13% less productive. However, we find little difference in technical efficiency between organic and conventional farms when technical efficiency is measured against the appropriate technology.