AgricultureAgricultural EconomicsResource EconomicsAgribusiness EconomicsAgribusiness ManagementProduction EconomicsFarm ProductivityIrrigation EfficiencyProductivity AnalysisResource EfficiencyResource Use EfficiencyTechnical EfficiencyAgricultural LabourDeterminants Of Farm ProductivityFarm Productivity AssessmentFarm-level EfficiencyProduction Technology AnalysisTechnological Efficiency
The objective of this study is to measure the levels of technical efficiency of a sample of wine-making farms, in the Portuguese Alentejo region, and relate these efficiency levels to some farm characteristics such as: physical and economic size, farmers’ age, land property, irrigation, labour use, and area and product specialization. The methodology chosen to measure the individual levels of efficiency was non-parametric due to the advantage of not defining a functional form for the production technology. Results show that wine-producing farms could increase the efficiency of input use. The scale and congestion inefficiencies are responsible for most of the observed technical inefficiency. The technical efficiency increases with special-
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