Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T19:08:12.064Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nonradial Technical Efficiency and Chemical Input Use in Agriculture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo
Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo*
Affiliation:
Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Get access

Abstract

Radial and nonradial measures of technical efficiency are calculated empirically for Florida vegetable farms using DEA (data envelopment analysis) techniques. Use of the nonradial measures to calculate overuse of chemical inputs by inefficient farmers is demonstrated and the potential for reduced environmental loading of pesticides and fertilizers by improving efficiency is evaluated.

Type
Articles
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , April 1994 , pp. 11 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Afriat, S.N. “Efficiency Estimation of Production Functions.” International Economic Review 13 (1972): 568–98.Google Scholar
Aly, H.Y., Belbase, K., Grabowsky, R., and Kraft, S. “The Technical Efficiency of Illinois Grain Farms: An Application of a Ray Homothetic Production Function.” Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics 19 (1987): 69–78.Google Scholar
Aly, H.Y., Grabowsky, R., Pasurka, C., and Rangan, N. “Technical, Scale and Allocative Efficiencies in U.S. Banking: An Empirical Investigation.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 72 (1990): 211–18.Google Scholar
Bagi, F.S. “Relationship Between Farm Size and Technical Efficiency.” Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics 13 (1982): 139–44.Google Scholar
Bailey, D., Biswas, B., Kumbhakar, S.C., and Schulties, B.K. “An Analysis of Technical, Allocative and Scale Inefficiency: The Case of Ecuadorian Dairy Farms.” Western Journal of Agricultural Economics 14 (1989): 30–7.Google Scholar
Banker, R.D. “Estimating Most Productive Scale Size Using Data Envelopment Analysis.” European Journal of Operational Research 12 (1984): 35–44.Google Scholar
Banker, R.D., and Morey, R. “Efficiency Analysis for Exogenously Fixed Inputs and Outputs.” Operations Research 17 (1986): 35–44.Google Scholar
Banker, R.D., and Thrall, R.M. “Estimation of Returns to Scale Using Data Envelopment Analysis.” Working Paper 89–54, Carnegie Mellon University, June 1989.Google Scholar
Baumol, W.J., Panzar, J.C., and Willig, R.D. Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich, Inc. 1982.Google Scholar
Bravo-Ureta, B.E., and Rieger, L. “Dairy Farm Efficiency Measurement Using Stochastic Frontiers and Neoclassical Duality.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 73 (1991): 421–8.Google Scholar
Brooke, A., Kendrick, D., and Meeraus, A. GAMS: A User's Guide. Redwood City, CA: The Scientific Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Charnes, A., and Cooper, W.W. “Preface to Data Envelopment Analysis.” In Annals of Operation Research. Vol. 2, J.C., Basel, Switzerland: Baltzer Scientific Publishing, 1985.Google Scholar
Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W., and Rhodes, E. “Measuring Efficiency of Decision Making Units.” European Journal of Operations Research 6 (1978): 429–44.Google Scholar
Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W., and Rhodes, E. “Evaluating Program and Managerial Efficiency: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to Program Follow Through.” Management Science 27 (1981): 668–97.Google Scholar
Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W., Sun, D.B., and Huang, Z.M. “Polyhedral Cone-Ratio DEA Models with an Illustrative Application to Large Commercial Banks.” Journal of Econometrics 46 (1990): 73–91.Google Scholar
Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W., and Thrall, R.M. “Classifying and Characterizing Efficiencies and Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis.” Operations Research Letters 5 (1986): 105–10.Google Scholar
Chavas, J.P., and Aliber, M. “An Analysis of Economic Efficiency in Agriculture: A Nonparametric Approach.” Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 18 (1993): 1–16.Google Scholar
Cooper, J., and Loomis, J. “Economic Value of Wildlife Resources in the San Joaquin Valley: Hunting and Viewing Values.” The Economics and Management of Water and Drainage in Agriculture. ed. Dinar, A. and Zilberman, D. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Press Acad., 1991.Google Scholar
Ekanayake, S.A.B., and Jayasuriya, S.K. “Change, Adjustment and the Role of Specific Experience: Evidence from Sri Lanka Rice Farming.” Australian J. of Agricultural Econ 33 (1989): 123–3 5.Google Scholar
EPA. Regional Assessment of Aquifer Vulnerability and Sensitivity in the United States. EPA/600-2-91/043, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, August 1991.Google Scholar
Färe, R., Grosskopf, S., and Lovell, C.A.K. The Measurement of Efficiency in Production. Boston:Kluwer-Nihoff, 1985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Färe, R., and Lovell, C.A.K. “Measuring the Technical Efficiency of Production.” Journal of Economic Theory 25 (1978): 150–62.Google Scholar
Färe, R., Lovell, C.A.K., and Zieschang, K. “Measuring the Technical Efficiency of Multiple Output Production Technologies.” In Eichhorn, W., Henn, R., Neumann, K., and Shephard, R.W., eds., Quantitative Studies on Production and Prices, Wurzburg and Viena: Physica-Verlag, 1983.Google Scholar
Farrell, M.J. “The Measurement of Productive Efficiency.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Ser. A, General, 10 (1957): 253–81.Google Scholar
Feder, G., Just, R.J., and Zilberman, D. “Adoption of Agricultural Innovations in Developing Countries: A Survey.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 1985: 255–98.Google Scholar
Fernandez-Cornejo, J., Gempesaw, C.M., Elterich, J.G. and Stefanou, S.E. “Dynamic Measures of Scope and Scale Economies and the Dynamic Theory of the Firm.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 74 (1992): 329–42.Google Scholar
Fernandez-Cornejo, J., Beach, E.D., and Huang, W. “The Adoption of IPM Techniques by Vegetable Growers in Florida, Texas, and Michigan.” Forthcoming in the Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics.Google Scholar
Ferrier, G.D., and Lovell, C.A.K. “Measuring Efficiency in Banking: Econometric and Linear Programming Evidence.” Journal of Econometrics 46 (1990): 229–45.Google Scholar
Garcia, P., Sonka, S., and Yoo, M. “Farm Size, Tenure, and Economic Efficiency in a Sample of Illinois Grain Farms.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 64 (1982): 119–23.Google Scholar
Gianessi, L.P., and Puffer, C.A. “Reregistration of Minor Pesticides: Some Observations and Implications.” Inputs Situation and Outlook Report. U.S. Dept. Agric., Econ. Res. Serv., Feb. (1992): 52–60.Google Scholar
Greene, W.H. “Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Econometric Frontier Functions.” Journal of Econometrics 13 (1980): 27–56.Google Scholar
Greene, W.H., “On the Estimation of a Flexible Frontier Production Model.” Journal of Econometrics 13 (1980): 101–15.Google Scholar
Grisley, W., and Mascarenhas, J. “Operating Cost Efficiency of Pennsylvania Dairy Farms,” Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 14 (1985): 88–95.Google Scholar
Hall, B.F., and LeVeen, E.P. “Farm Size and Economic Efficiency: The Case of California,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 60 (1978): 589–600.Google Scholar
Hallberg, G.R. “Agricultural Chemicals in Ground Water: Extent and Implications,” American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 2 (1987): 3–15.Google Scholar
Harper, C.R., and Zilberman, D. “Pest Externalities from Agricultural Inputs,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 71 (1989): 692–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kopp, R. “The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Comment.” Journal of Economic Theory 25 (1981): 251–2.Google Scholar
Just, R.E., Zilberman, D., and Rauser, G.C. “A Putty-Clay Approach to the Distributional Effects of New Technology Under Risk.” Operations Research in Agriculture and Water Resources. ed. Yaron, D. and Tapiero, C. New York: North Holland Publishing Company, 1980.Google Scholar
Lovell, C.A.K., and Schmidt, P. “A Comparison of Alternative Approaches to the Measurement of Productive Efficiency.” Applications of Modern Productive Theory: Efficiency and Productivity, ed. Dogramaci, A. and Fäve, R. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988.Google Scholar
Maddala, G.S. Limited-Dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Mott, L. “The Public Residue Database.” Pesticide Residues and Food Safety: A Harvest of Viewpoints. ed. Tweedy, B.G., Dishburger, H.J., Balantine, L.G., and McCarthy, J. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, 1991.Google Scholar
National Academy of Sciences. Regulating Pesticides. Washington, DC. 1980.Google Scholar
National Research Council. Regulating Pesticides in Food: The Delaney Paradox, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Page, J.M. “Firm Size and Technical Efficiency: Application of Production Frontiers to Indian Survey Data.” Journal of Development Economics 16 (1984): 129–52.Google Scholar
Richmond, J. “Estimating the Efficiency of Production.” International Economic Review 15 (1974): 515–21.Google Scholar
Seiford, L.M., and Thrall, R.M. “Recent Developments in DEA: The Mathematical Programming Approach to Frontier Analysis.” Journal of Econometrics 46 (1990): 7–38.Google Scholar
Tauer, L.W., and Belbase, K.P. “Technical Efficiency of New York Dairy Cows.” Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 14 (1985): 10–16.Google Scholar
Timmer, C.P. “On Measuring Technical Efficiency.” Food Research Institute Studies in Food and Resource Economics 9 (1970): 213–16.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.G., Langemeier, L.N., Lee, C.T., Lee, E., and Thrall, R.M. “The Role of Multiplier Bounds in Efficiency Analysis with Application to Kansas Farming.” Journal of Econometrics 46 (1990): 93–108.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Agricultural Resources: Inputs, Situation and Outlook Report. Selected years.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Economic Indicators of the Farm Sector: Production and Efficiency Statistics, 1990. ECIFS 10–3, May 1992.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Agricultural Chemical Use: 1990 Vegetables Summary. June 1991.Google Scholar