This paper investigates the structure and characteristics of the full distribution of sheep farms achieving various levels of financial and technical performance. Analysing data from the Irish panel dataset, the Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS) shows Irish sheep farms exhibit relatively low...

This policy paper reviews the sustainability literature, with a view to furthering research in the area of the sustainability of Irish agriculture. This is the first component of a larger project currently being undertaken by the authors to assess the effect of policy reform on the economic,...

Previous studies that have attempted to model the participation decision of farmers in agrienvironmental schemes have used a static framework where it was not possible to examine changes in the participation decision of farmers over time. This is rectified in this paper by utilising an 11 year...

Indicators encompassing the multi-dimensional nature of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) are developed here using National Farm Survey data over a ten-year period (1996-2006) to assess the overall sustainability of Irish agriculture. This is the first such study undertaken for...

This paper uses Irish National Farm Survey and Census of Agriculture data to analyse the regional implications of the decoupling of direct payments for farmers in Ireland. A mathematical programming model is used to estimate the regional effects of decoupling while a microsimulation model is...