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Farm size and growth in field crop and dairy farms in France, Hungary and Slovenia

Author

Listed:
  • Zoltan Bakucs

    (Institute of Economics [Budapest] - Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies - MTA - Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development - Corvinus University of Budapest)

  • Stefan Bojnec

    (Faculty of Management - University of Primorska)

  • Imre Fertő

    (Institute of Economics [Budapest] - Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies - MTA - Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development - Corvinus University of Budapest)

  • Laure Latruffe

    (SMART-LERECO - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - AGROCAMPUS OUEST)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between size and farm growth. The existing theories of the association between size and farm growth give mixed results by countries and over time. This paper pursues a twofold objective: on one hand, to test the validity of Gibrat's Law for French, Hungarian and Slovenian specialized dairy and crop farms during the pre- and post-accession period to the European Union membership. Dairy and crops farms are prevailing in the farming structure of these countries. Using Farm Accountancy Data Network datasets makes it necessary to avoid biases due to heterogeneous structures across the farming systems. Thus we use quantile regressions to control for farm size related heterogeneity in the samples. On the other hand, the main novelty of this paper is the comparative analysis of the relationship between farm size and farm growth between transition Hungarian and Slovenian and non-transition French farming sectors, characterized by rather different farm structures. The results reject the validity of Gibrat's Law for crop farms in Hungary and to a lesser extent in France, and for French and Slovenian dairy farms. We provide evidence that smaller farms grew faster than larger ones over the studied period 2001-2007 for France, 2001-2008 for Hungary, and 2004-2008 for Slovenia. Conversely, the results for Slovenia suggest that the rate of growth of crop farms in terms of its land is independent from its size.

Suggested Citation

  • Zoltan Bakucs & Stefan Bojnec & Imre Fertő & Laure Latruffe, 2013. "Farm size and growth in field crop and dairy farms in France, Hungary and Slovenia," Post-Print hal-01208897, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01208897
    DOI: 10.5424/sjar/2013114-3994
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01208897
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Zahra Ardakani & Fabio Bartolini & Gianluca Brunori, 2020. "New Evaluation of Small Farms: Implication for an Analysis of Food Security," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Guiomar, N. & Godinho, S. & Pinto-Correia, T. & Almeida, M. & Bartolini, F. & Bezák, P. & Biró, M. & Bjørkhaug, H. & Bojnec, Š. & Brunori, G. & Corazzin, M. & Czekaj, M. & Davidova, S. & Kania, J. & K, 2018. "Typology and distribution of small farms in Europe: Towards a better picture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 784-798.
    7. Giannakis, Elias & Bruggeman, Adriana & Zoumides, Christos, 2016. "Determinants of agricultural labour productivity across the European regions," 149th Seminar, October 27-28, 2016, Rennes, France 244899, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Popovici Veronica & Toma Andreea Raluca, 2018. "Convergence of Romanian and European Union Agriculture – Evolution and Prospective Assessment," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(1), pages 239-247, July.
    9. Mansoor Maitah & Ahmed Murjan & Helena Rezbov & Mustofa Jehar, 2016. "Economic Analysis of Olive Oil Production Costs as Influenced by Farm Size in Syrian Coastal Region," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 6(1), pages 154-162.
    10. Levi, Loic & Chavas, Jean-Paul, 2018. "How Does Eliminating Quotas Affect Firm Investment? Evidence from Dairy Farms," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273831, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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