Jef Van Meensel

Positive Mathematical Programming for Agricultural and Environmental Policy Analysis: Review and Practice

Positive mathematical programming (PMP) has renewed the interest in mathematical modelling of agricultural and environmental policies. This chapter explains first the main advantages and disadvantages of the PMP approach, followed by a presentation of an individual farm-based sector model, called SEPALE. The farm-based approach allows the introduction of differences in individual farm structures in the PMP modelling framework. Furthermore, a farm-level model gives the possibility of identifying the impacts according to various farm characteristics. Simulations of possible alternatives to the implementation of the Agenda 2000 mid-term review illustrate the value of such a model. This chapter concludes with some topics for further research to resolve some of the PMP limitations.

Effect of a participatory approach on the successful development of agricultural decision support systems: The case of Pigs2win

This paper explores how a decision support system (DSS) can be developed that complies with the critical success factors of such systems. A participatory approach is used to develop Pigs2win, a DSS for Flemish pig farms. Pigs2win uses frontier analysis for comparative farm analysis. The participatory approach influences the selection of stakeholders, objective setting and evaluation of Pigs2win. Outcomes of the participatory approach result in features of Pigs2win that positively influence its compliance with critical success factors. Based on our experience with Pigs2win, we put forward points that need attention when a participatory approach is organized.

Comparing frontier methods for economic–environmental trade-off analysis

This paper uses a mechanistic frontier approach as a reference to evaluate the ability of conventional parametric (SFA) and non-parametric (DEA) frontier approaches for analyzing economic-environmental trade-offs. Conventional frontier approaches are environmentally adjusted through incorporating the materials balance principle. The analysis is worked out for the Flemish pig finishing case, which is both representative and didactic. Results show that, on average, SFA and DEA yield adequate economic-environmental trade-offs. Both methods are good estimators for technical efficiency. Cost allocative and environmental allocative efficiency scores are less robust, due to the well-known methodological advantages and disadvantages of SFA and DEA. For particular firms, SFA, DEA and the mechanistic approach may yield different economic-environmental trade-offs. One has therefore to be careful when using conventional frontier approaches for firm-specific decision support. The mechanistic approach allows for optimizing performances per average present finisher, which is the production unit in pig finishing. Conventional frontier methods do not allow for this optimization since the number of average present finishers varies along the production functions. Since the mechanistic production function is based on underlying growth, feed uptake and mortality functions, additional firm-specific indicators can also be calculated at each point of the production function.

Communicative diagnosis of cost-saving options for reducing nitrogen emission from pig finishing

Reducing nitrogen emission from livestock production is usually perceived as costly. Nevertheless, production process related measures addressing the transformation of input(s) into output(s) may result in a cost-saving reduction of nitrogen emission. This paper explores the separate and combined use of traditional key performance indicators and an environmentally adjusted Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to reveal firm-specific cost-saving mechanisms for pig-finishing farms. Traditional key performance indicators are easy to communicate but have shortcomings when assessing benchmarks for comparative farm analysis. The environmentally adjusted DEA decomposes both cost and environmental efficiencies into technical and allocative efficiency components, separating the physical production analysis from price and nutrient content information. DEA makes efficiency benchmarks and improvement paths explicit, but the practical value of such efficiency scores is low. This paper proposes to take advantage of both methods: concrete benchmarks and eligible improvement paths are assessed using frontier methods, while the decision variables that steer farmers towards changes are described in terms of traditional key performance indicators. This leads to an improved diagnosis that is easy to communicate to farmers and may therefore facilitate decision support. Our pig-finishing case study shows that farms can achieve economic-environmental win-win situations through improving technical, cost allocative and cost efficiencies, which are mainly driven by feed conversion. Less technical efficient farms are found to require a lower delivery weight in order to minimize costs, which shows the farm-specificity of economic-environmental improvement advice.

Context Matters—Using an Agent-Based Model to Investigate the Influence of Market Context on the Supply of Local Biomass for Anaerobic Digestion

Biogas plant managers often face difficulties in obtaining feedstock at stable and affordable prices. The context in which the biogas plant manager needs to purchase the feedstock could be important when the biomass is also used in valorization trajectories besides anaerobic digestion. Using a combination of qualitative research and agent-based modelling, we investigated the effect of market context on the purchase of local biomass for anaerobic digestion. This paper details the institutional arrangements of our case study, the silage maize market in Flanders and the results of a scenario analysis, simulating nine different market contexts. Silage maize is an interesting case study, as it is both used for feed by farmers and as an input in biogas plants. The results show that mainly the time of entry into the market explains the difficulties in obtaining a stable supply of silage maize to biogas plants. Furthermore, we found a silage maize price increase for farmers in competition with a biogas plant, especially in case of a silage maize deficit in the market. The different institutional arrangements used have no significant effect. Our findings may guide biogas plant managers in assessing and reducing the consequences of the establishment of a biogas plant, competing for local biomass resources.

How Advanced Efficiency Techniques Can Support Production Disease Control Decisions on Dairy Farms

Production diseases in dairy cows can have significant effects on farm business performance. Decisions about controlling production diseases are mainly based on veterinary advice. However, from an economic perspective, mere diagnosis of disease does not provide enough information for intervention decisions. Well-founded decisions are based on knowledge of the economic effects of production diseases and their control measures. One challenge for dairy farmers and advisors is to access farm-specific tools that can determine the effect of a disease on farm business performance. Efficiency analysis facilitates a more integrated economic-epidemiological view by considering the aggregate transformation of inputs into outputs; it also enables advanced benchmarking within a set of farms. With efficiency analysis, the effect of diseases on economic performance can be studied and farm-specific economic-epidemiological win-win scenarios can be identified. Additionally, the contribution of disease control in moving farms closer to performance benchmarks can be determined. The main challenges for practical application of these techniques are the linking of animal disease metrics with farm accountancy information and integrating farm-economic principles into veterinary advice.