Approaches to the factors involved in the economic and productive performance of dairy farms in the Pampas Region

Abstract

Bovine milk production is carried out in complex productive systems that require constant monitoring of the factors that question them. Likewise, the sector needs to understand the stagnation of annual production at the national level, characterized by a drop in the number of establishments and herds, and a progressive productive efficiency. This entails the study of the determinants of both the economic (EP) and productive (PP) performance of the establishments, what could allow them to improve their competitiveness and, together with other exogenous factors, collaborate to overcome this prolonged stage of productive stability. Starting from a typology of dairy farms in the Pampas Region, the behavior of variables (profitability, cost of production and productivity of the land) and their interrelationship are analyzed. Finally, flexible econometric models that approximate the estimation of the economic and productive performance of the systems under study are formed and analyzed, based on factors that may be decisive for their evolution. The best models resulted from those that used synthetic variables (principal components) as inputs, compared to those that made us and selection of system-specific variables, correcting problems of multicollinearity. The use of instrumental variables could contribute to the resolution of the multicausality present among the factors of the models analyzed.