The recent reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have exposed the European agricultural sector to a new set of constraints and challenges. The decoupling of direct payments from production is expected to make production decisions more market-oriented as farmers move from mainly subsidy...

This paper conducts a detailed, micro-focused investigation on the implications of recent agricultural policy changes on the structure of production systems in Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands in terms of farm numbers, system switching, specialisation, the role of economies of scale, on-farm...

The future of dairy farming in Ireland is examined. The effects of a strong macroeconomy, Agenda 2000 and domestic policy on milk quota transfer are analysed using linear programming and Markov Chain analysis. Results show that all farms are subjected to a price-cost squeeze. Smaller dairy farms...

This paper explores the implications of an expansion of the EU milk quota. The paper begins by examining the relative competitiveness of dairy farming in the EU. FADN data is used to derive production cost measures and partial productivity indicators for selected Member States. The results show...

This paper examines intergenerational succession on Irish dairy farms. The factors that influence the decision to enter dairying farming are examined using a binary choice logit model. Reasons that are frequently published in the popular farming press as being an obstacle to intergenerational...

The financial crisis has brought to the fore concerns regarding small- and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) capacity to access traditional bank lending. Using European firm-level data on SME access to finance since the onset of the financial crisis, we find that bank-lending constrained SMEs are...