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The influence of weather conditions on dairy production
Author(s) -
PerezMendez Jose A.,
Roibas David,
Wall Alan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.29
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1574-0862
pISSN - 0169-5150
DOI - 10.1111/agec.12474
Subject(s) - production (economics) , productivity , milk production , forage , environmental science , agricultural science , agricultural economics , zoology , economics , agronomy , biology , macroeconomics
Abstract Relatively little attention has been paid in the economics literature to the effects of meteorological conditions on milk production. Meteorological variables can be expected to affect milk production through their impact on the productivity of cows and the production of foodstuff. Rather than including meteorological variables as inputs in the milk production process, we propose a production function where these variables affect the productivity of cows and the production of forage, thereby indirectly affecting milk production. Using production and meteorological data from the Spanish region of Asturias corresponding to 383 dairy farms observed during a six‐year period from 2006 to 2011, the results from our estimated production function show that meteorological variables have a significant impact on milk production. We find that milk production is higher under warm weather conditions due to improvements in forage production.