Does participation in agri-environmental schemes increase eco-efficiency?

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Economics
• Environmental Science
• Farm Management

Background:

• Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) literature predominantly assesses environmental impacts, with limited focus on economic outcomes.
• Simultaneous evaluation of ecological and economic performance in AES is scarce.
• Eco-efficiency offers a framework to integrate these dual objectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the impact of participation in Hungarian Agri-Environmental Schemes on field crop farmers' eco-efficiency.
• To integrate environmental and economic factors using the eco-efficiency concept.
• To assess the effectiveness of AES in enhancing farm-level sustainability.

Main Methods:

• Application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with aggregation and bootstrap theory for unbiased comparisons.
• Eco-efficiency measurement defined as the ratio of farm income to inputs (pesticides, fertilizers, energy).
• Robustness checks using different methodological approaches.

Main Results:

• Hungarian crop farms exhibit significant potential for enhancing overall eco-efficiency.
• No significant difference in eco-efficiency was found between farmers participating in AES and non-participating farmers.
• The study's findings are consistent across various analytical methods.

Conclusions:

• While potential for eco-efficiency improvement exists, current AES participation does not demonstrably enhance it for Hungarian field crop farmers.
• The results question the current efficacy of the Agri-Environmental Scheme in achieving integrated environmental and economic goals.
• Further research and policy adjustments may be needed to improve AES effectiveness.