Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS) and technical efficiency: An analysis of citrus farms in Brazil

This study aims to investigate the impacts of personal aspects and aspects of the decision-making process (Rougoor et al., 1998) on the technical efficiencies of citrus farms in Brazil. A variable that measures the adoption of Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS) was created, which is an innovative aspect of this paper. Primary data for the crop year of 2013/14 (cross sectional data) were collected from a sample of 98 farms located in the State of São Paulo, one of the largest citrus regions in the world. The single stage model developed by Battese and Coelli (1995) was used to estimate the stochastic production frontier translog and the determinants of the efficiency of farms. The results showed that the technical efficiency scores across citrus farms range from 28% to 97%, with a mean of 75%. The expectation formation (personal aspect), the use of long-term contracts and the adoption of Farm Management Information Systems (aspects of decision-making processes) were significant determinants of technical efficiency. This result confirms the hypotheses built around these variables.