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Technical Efficiency of U. S. Organic Farmers: The Complementary Roles of Soil Management Techniques and Farm Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Luanne Lohr  and
Timothy A. Park
Luanne Lohr
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia
Timothy A. Park
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia
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Abstract

Agricultural policymakers place increasing emphasis on developing efficiency measures for organic producers in order to evaluate regulatory strategies and evolving organic market conditions. We develop technical efficiency measures for U. S. organic farmers using a stochastic production frontier. Farm decisions about acquiring and managing organic soil materials from on-farm and local sources are incorporated into the technical efficiency measure. Productivity differences between newer entrants to organic farming and more experienced producers are estimated in order to isolate the impact of learning and management expertise on farm-level technical efficiency.

Keywords

organic farmingfrontier production functionsoil organic matterperformance measurementtechnical efficiency
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , October 2006 , pp. 327 - 338
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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