Efficiency, productivity and technology comparison for farms in Central and Western Europe: The case of field crop and dairy farming in Hungary and France

This paper investigates the differences in technical efficiency and productivity change, and the technology gaps, between French and Hungarian farms in the dairy and cereal, oilseed and protein crops (COP) sectors during the period 2001-2007. The analyses were performed with national Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach under each country's respective frontier and under a metafrontier.Results reveal that French COP farms were on average more efficient under their own technology than Hungarian farms under theirs, but there was no difference between the two countries for dairy farms. However, metatechnology ratios calculated with the construction of the metafrontier indicate that Hungarian technology was the more productive in both the dairy and the COP sectors, but more noticeably in COP production.

► French COP farms are more efficient under their technology than their Hungarian peers. ► Hungarian technology is more productive than French technology in COP production. ► There is no strong difference between France and Hungary in dairy production. ► Bootstrapping and confidence intervals show a large uncertainty in results. ► Corporate farms in Hungary may partly explain Hungary's superiority.