Armando Mendes & Emiliana L. D. G. Soares da Silva 
Efficiency Measures in the Agricultural Sector 
With Applications

The editors draw on a 3-year project that analyzed a Portuguese area in detail, comparing this study with papers from other regions. Applications include the estimation of technical efficiency in agricultural grazing systems (dairy, beef and mixed) and specifically for dairy farms. The conclusions indicate that it is now necessary to help small dairy farms in order to make them more efficient. These results can be compared with the technical efficiency of a sample of Spanish dairy processing firms presented by Magdalena Kapelko and co-authors.

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Contents:.- Part I Efficiency Measures and Methods.- 1 Efficiency Measures in the Agricultural Sector: The Beginning.- 2 Review of Frontier Models and Efficiency Analysis: A Parametric Approach.- 3 Introduction to Data Envelopment Analysis.- 4 Superefficiency and Multiplier Adjustment in Data Envelopment Analysis.- Part II Farm Efficiency.- 5 An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in Azores Dairy Farms.- 6 Animal Grazing System Efficiency.- 7 Technical Efficiency of the Spanish Dairy Processing Industry: Do Size and Exporting Matter?.- 8 Inefficiency in Animal Production – A Parametric Approach.- 9 Azorean Agriculture Efficiency by PAR.- 10 Sustainable Tourism and Agriculture Multifunctionality by PAR: A Variable Selection Approach.- 11 The Importance of Subsidies in Azorean Dairy Farms Efficiency.- 12 Multi-Ouput Technical Efficiency in the Olive Oil Industry and its Relation to the Form of Business Organisation.- 13 Efficiency Assessment: Final Remarks.- Index.