Closing productivity gaps among Dutch dairy farms can boost profit and reduce nitrogen pollution

Agricultural productivity growth can simultaneously increase profit and reduce pollution. Yet, the impact of productivity growth on both has not been quantified. The objective of our study was to develop an approach to quantify the extent to which agricultural productivity growth can increase profit and reduce pollution. Focusing on nitrogen pollution, we applied the approach to a sample of 341 intensive Dutch dairy farms for the years 2006-2017. Using a Bennet-Lowe formulation, we measured economic and nitrogen productivities over time and across farms. We applied Data Envelopment Analysis to... Mehr ...