Scholarly record
THE EFFICIENCY OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION ON FARMS IN LATVIA
Abstract
This paper aims to explore the efficiency of energy consumption on farms of different economic sizes in Latvia. Burning fossil fuels to satisfy a continuously growing demand for energy created by the industry, transport and households has been a cause of concern for several decades. It has been widely acknowledged as one of the major reasons for a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions, a dramatic rise of global temperature and ongoing climate changes. Since farms use energy not only directly by operating machinery and equipment but also indirectly by utilizing energy-intensive fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals, nowadays, the agricultural sector meets a serious challenge of devising and employing sustainable methods of production to enhance the efficiency of consumed energy. Although this topic has been high on the agenda for researchers, policy-makers, national, international, governmental and non-governmental organizations, little attention has been paid to a comparative analysis of the efficiency of energy consumption across various farms in Latvia. This paper attempts to fill this gap in the literature by examining the consumption of energy per hectare of the utilised agricultural area and per livestock unit over the years since Latvia?s accession to the EU in 2004. The paper adopted a mixed-method approach by integrating and interpreting the results of quantitative and qualitative data analysis. A statistical analysis was based on data obtained from SUDAT - a national component of the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) in Latvia. Research shows that the efficiency of energy consumption significantly differs between farms of various economic sizes.
Publication Impact Profile
- Captures
- Mendeley - Readers: 6
Publication details
References14
Kraatz, S. Energy intensity in livestock operations - modeling of dairy farming systems, Agricultural Systems, vol. 110, pp 90-106, 2012.
Lowder, S. K., Skoet, J., Raney, T. The number, size, and distribution of farms, smallholder farms, and family farms worldwide, World Development, vol. 87, pp 16-29, 2016.
Alvarez, A., Arias, C. Technical efficiency and farm size: A conditional analysis, Agricultural Economics, vol. 30, pp 241-250, 2004.
Hadley, D. Patterns in technical efficiency and technical change at the farm-level in England and Wales, 1982-2002, Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 57, pp 81-100, 2006.
Sharma, K. R, Leung, P., Zaleski, H. M. Technical, allocative and economic efficiencies in swine production in Hawaii: A comparison of parametric and nonparametric approaches, Agricultural Economics, vol. 20, pp 23-35, 1999.
Hansson, H. Are larger farms more efficient? A farm level study of the relationships between efficiency and size on specialized dairy farms in Sweden, Agricultural and Food Science, vol. 17, pp 325-337, 2008.
Helfand, S. M., Levine, E. S. Farm size and the determinants of productive efficiency in the Brazilian Center-West, Agricultural Economics, vol. 31, pp 241-249, 2004.
Bravo-Ureta, B. E., Rieger, L. Dairy farm efficiency measurement using stochastic frontiers and neo-classical duality, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 73, pp 421-428, 1991.
Mousavi-Avval, S. H., Mohammadi, A., Ra?ee, S., Tabatabaeefar, A. Assessing the technical efficiency of energy use in different barberry production systems, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 27, pp 126-132, 2012.
Lynch, D. H., Macrae, R., Martin, R. C. The carbon and global warming potential impacts of organic farming: does it have a significant role in an energy constrained world? Sustainability, vol. 3, pp 322-362, 2011.
Lee, K. S., Choe, Y. C. Environmental performance of organic farming: Evidence from Korean small-holder soybean production, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 211, pp 742-748, 2019.
Mohammadi, A., Rafiee, S., Jafari, A., Keyhani, A., Mousavi-Avval, H. H., Nonhebel, S. Energy use efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions of farming systems in north Iran, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 30, pp 724-733, 2014.
Sefeedpari, P., Ghahderijani, M., Pishgar-Komleh, S. H. Assessment the effect of wheat farm sizes on energy consumption and CO2 emission, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, vol. 5, 2013. DOI: 10.1063/1.4800207
Martinho, V. J. P. D. Energy consumption across European Union farms: Ef?ciency in terms of farming output and utilized agricultural area, Energy, vol. 103, pp 543-556, 2016.
View or Download full articleAccess options
SWS access login
Login as SWS Scientific CommitteeLogin as SWS Scientific PartnerLogin as SWS AuthorAuthors and approved SWS contributors will read and export their own linked papers after identity matching by SWS profile, email and SGEM GlobalID.
For librarian assistance: [email protected]
Purchase Instant Access
- Article can be downloaded after successful payment.
- Article may be used according to SWS library access terms.
- Article cannot be redistributed.