Within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), various measures are being pursued to achieve objectives such as increasing the competitiveness of agricultural holdings or promoting sustainable development and efficient management of natural resources. In order to further develop CAP measures, it is useful to assess the reactions of the actors involved, such as farmers, to these measures (e.g. land use by agricultural holdings) and to other conditions (e.g. markets, climate), as well as the effects of the measures (e.g. economic impacts, derivable environmental effects). Such an assessment requires a detailed and well-prepared database, knowledge of methods for model-based analyses, and models.
The overarching goal of this project was to develop a ‘model system’ that can be used to assess the reactions of agricultural holdings to changes in certain conditions and to draw conclusions about the consequences of certain measures at an aggregate level. In the course of the project, the overarching goal was specified as creating a framework for various analyses of the impacts of agricultural policy measures and other factors influencing the agricultural sector and expanding methodological skills. The focus was on analyses of primarily economic questions based on farm-level data.
In this project, which was launched in 2004 at the (former) Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics and continued from 2019 at the Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research, various activities were pursued over time in different sub-areas, which are thematically summarised here:
- Efficiency analysis: The efficiency of dairy farms was analysed using data envelopment analysis (DEA). The results were published (e.g. Kirner, Ortner and Hambrusch, 2007).
- Optimisation model: The farm optimisation model FAMOS developed by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Schmid, 2004) was adapted for use with data from bookkeeping farms and for analysing the effects of certain CAP reforms (e.g. the 2003 CAP reform) and was used in projects already completed by the (former) Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics. The results were published in the context of these completed projects. In addition, methodological skills were continuously expanded as part of the project, particularly regarding the method of mathematical programming.
- Database for model-based analyses: During the course of the project, work was carried out on setting up a database for model-based analyses. These activities will be continued from 2026 onwards in project BAB 090/26 (GRI-MA).
- Spatial competition between milk processors: Together with the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, and the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) in Halle (Saale), a literature review on spatial economics was published in a scientific journal (see Graubner, Salhofer and Tribl, 2021). In collaboration with the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, the results of theoretical models on spatial competition in markets such as the raw milk market were tested using econometric models and data for Southern Germany. Empirical results were presented at scientific conferences in 2017, 2021 and 2025 (see Tribl, Morawetz and Salhofer, 2017).
Translation with www.DeepL.com/Translator, reworded
