Regional analysis of specific costs in agricultural production: use of the Wasserstein distance[Analyse régionale des coûts spécifiques en production agricole : utilisation de la distance de Wasserstein]

In the context of the upcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, analyzing agricultural production costs is a crucial step in formulating fair pricing policies—particularly at the regional level—to avoid potential distortions of competition. This article presents the application of statistical techniques based on the Wasserstein distance to the regional analysis of specific agricultural production costs. Accounting for distribution heterogeneity and asymmetry, the approach combines conditional quantile estimation methodology with techniques based on the Wasserstein distance (factor analysis of distance matrices, unsupervised classification, and quadratic testing). The procedure is applied to a comparative regional analysis of specific fertilizer cost distributions for crop production, using data from the European Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) at the NUTS 2 regional level. The results regarding specific input costs appear consistent with those of previous studies conducted under the European Union's 7th Framework Programme for Research.