Technical efficiency in beef cattle farming in Uruguay: Insights from census data
Livestock farming is the agricultural activity with the greatest individual land-use, but it faces competition from other sectors for land, and is criticized for its environmental footprint. In this global context, Uruguay emerges as an important case study, boasting a long tradition and significanc...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | Uruguay |
| Institución: | Universidad de la República |
| Repositorio: | COLIBRI |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:colibri.udelar.edu.uy:20.500.12008/43635 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12008/43635 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Fronteiras estocásticas Fronteras estocásticas Função de produção Función de producción Production function Stochastic frontiers |
| Sumario: | Livestock farming is the agricultural activity with the greatest individual land-use, but it faces competition from other sectors for land, and is criticized for its environmental footprint. In this global context, Uruguay emerges as an important case study, boasting a long tradition and significance in the beef export sector. Enhancing livestock productivity is im-perative to mitigate environmental impacts, and bolster farm competitiveness and food production. This study delves into the technical efficiency of cattle ranches focused on cow-calf production in Uruguay during the 2011 agricultural year, with nationwide and mandatory data coverage. Using data from the 2011 General Agriculture Census we esti-mate a translog stochastic production frontier model encompassing key inputs (livestock units, grazing area, and la-bor), along with control variables such as soil suitability and infrastructure improvements. Our findings underscore the potential to augment Uruguay's beef production by an average of 26.4%, harnessing existing resources and technolo-gy while improving ranch management. Moreover, variables like the extent of reliance on livestock farming as the pri-mary source of income of the ranch, the use of outsourced services, foreign cattle ownership ratios, and agronomic and veterinary consultation exert noteworthy significant impacts on TE. |
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