Agricultural Economicshttp://hdl.handle.net/11019/202024-03-29T00:37:49Z2024-03-29T00:37:49ZThe single farm payment and income risk in Irish farms 2005–2013Knapp, EdwardLoughrey, Jasonhttp://hdl.handle.net/11019/36852024-03-01T07:41:46Z2017-05-12T00:00:00ZThe single farm payment and income risk in Irish farms 2005–2013
Knapp, Edward; Loughrey, Jason
Agricultural income volatility has become a major hurdle for Irish farmers and
policymakers to overcome in their drive to increase investment, production and
ultimately income in the sector. This paper studies data from 927 farms in the
Teagasc National Farm Survey between 2005 and 2013, the first 9 years of the
decoupled subsidy era. The primary income support for European farmers, the
single farm payment (SFP), is analysed in the context of its relationship with
market income risk, i.e. farm income excluding subsidies. Detrended measures
of market income variability are regressed on a large set of control variables.
The findings suggest that the amount of SFP received by farmers has a strong
and statistically significant relationship with agricultural income volatility.
peer-reviewed
2017-05-12T00:00:00ZFarm-level viability, sustainability and resilience: a focus on cooperative action and values-based supply chainsHooks, TeresaMacken-Walsh, ÁineMcCarthy, OlivePower, Carolhttp://hdl.handle.net/11019/36792024-03-01T07:41:04Z2017-12-01T00:00:00ZFarm-level viability, sustainability and resilience: a focus on cooperative action and values-based supply chains
Hooks, Teresa; Macken-Walsh, Áine; McCarthy, Olive; Power, Carol
This paper presents a critical discussion of the concepts of farm-level viability, sustainability and resilience, which are typically
discussed separately in the literature. While farm-level viability frequently focuses on measurable economic factors, sustainability is comparatively more elusive because of its added social, cultural and ecological dimensions. Resilience, in turn, is
unambiguous in the sense that it requires particular conditions, but is achieved in dynamic ways. A traditional resilience strategy in agriculture globally is co-operative action, involving farmers working together to enhance their viability and sustainability,
often achieving resilience. We draw attention to agricultural development models that are distinctive because they leverage
co-operative action in and between family farms in agricultural communities while pursuing integrated viability, sustainability
and resilience strategies. We focus on the prospect of such rural development models, particularly a values-based supply
chain approach, and identify crucial considerations and future research needs.
peer-reviewed
2017-12-01T00:00:00ZFarm economic sustainability in the European Union: A pilot studyO'Donoghue, CathalDevisme, SimonRyan, MaryConneely, RickyGillespie, PatrickVrolijk, Hanshttp://hdl.handle.net/11019/36492024-03-03T04:18:07Z2016-12-01T00:00:00ZFarm economic sustainability in the European Union: A pilot study
O'Donoghue, Cathal; Devisme, Simon; Ryan, Mary; Conneely, Ricky; Gillespie, Patrick; Vrolijk, Hans
The measurement of farm economic sustainability has received intermittent academic interest in recent times, while the
conceptual discussions are often quite limited. Moreover, this concept receives more attention at periods of diffi culty for the
sector. The measurement of farm viability is an important precondition to enrich these discussions. Therefore, it is necessary to
develop more comprehensive and detailed measurement techniques to provide more clarity on viability and vulnerability levels
in the sector. This paper refocuses attention on this issue, using a pilot dataset collected at farm level across a range of EU
Member States which facilitates the assessment of an additional category of viability, namely that of economically sustainable
farms, i.e. farms that are economically vulnerable but which are deemed sustainable by the presence of off-farm income. Differences in viability and economic sustainability across the eight surveyed Member States are shown. The analysis is sensitive
to the factors included in the measurement of viability as well as to the threshold income used to defi ne viability. Although this
is a pilot study, it enhances our understanding of the factors affecting cross-country evaluation of viability and sustainability,
and the policy instruments that could improve viability levels.
peer-reviewed
2016-12-01T00:00:00ZMeasurement of sustainability in agriculture: a review of indicatorsLatruffe, LaureDiazabakana, AmbreBockstaller, ChristianDesjeux, YannFinn, JohnKelly, EdelRyan, MaryUthes, Sandrahttp://hdl.handle.net/11019/36292024-03-03T04:26:30Z2016-12-01T00:00:00ZMeasurement of sustainability in agriculture: a review of indicators
Latruffe, Laure; Diazabakana, Ambre; Bockstaller, Christian; Desjeux, Yann; Finn, John; Kelly, Edel; Ryan, Mary; Uthes, Sandra
In recent decades, the concept of sustainability has become increasingly prominent in agricultural policy debates. This has led more and more stakeholders to pay attention to the questions of monitoring and evaluation of agricultural practices, and raised the question of appropriate indicators to assess sustainability aspects of given practices. We provide here a review of indicators of sustainability for agriculture. We describe sustainability indicators used in the literature following the typology based on the three sustainability pillars: environmental, economic and social. The literature review shows that the environmental pillar has undergone an ‘indicator explosion’, due to the multitude of themes covered and the attention given by society to this dimension of sustainability. By contrast, economic indicators target a relatively small number of themes. Social indicators typically cover two main themes: sustainability relating to the farming community and sustainability relating to society as a whole. The measurement of these social indicators is challenging as they are often qualitative and may therefore be considered subjective. Careful attention should be given to the choice of indicators, since the data measured will infl uence the calculation of that indicator and therefore the outcome of the analysis. It should fi rst be decided whether individual or composite indicators are preferable, and whether single indicators or a set of indicators should be used. Also, sustainability assessments should be validated, credible and reproducible. Several selection criteria are provided in the literature, such as representativeness, transferability, adaptability and measurability at an acceptable cost.
peer-reviewed
2016-12-01T00:00:00Z