Output Effects of Agri-environmental Programs of the EU

consisting of about different measures (Groier and Loibl, 2000). Ten programs are relevant
for grain producers.

1.) Elementary support

2.) Organic farming

3.) Non-application of agro-chemicals, whole farm

4.) Crop rotation measures

5.) Extensive cereal cultivation

6.) Non-application of growth regulators

7.) Non-application of easily soluble commercial fertilizers and growth regulators

8.) Non-application of easily soluble commercial fertilizers and synthetic chemical crop
protection agents

9.) Non-application of fungicides

10.) Non-application of synthetic chemical crop protection agents

The first four programmes require the farm as a whole to participate, while the rest allows
for partial participation (e.g., that only 15% of a farm’s tilled acreage were managed
according to a program’s stipulations). Farmers could participate in more than one program at
the same time.

Estimation Procedure

The utilized data consists of farm accounting data linked with the official agricultural support
data (INVEKOS) for a sample of 2053 (approximately 1 % of all) Austrian farms. One year of
data before Austria joined the EU (and hence the OEPUL program was in place) (1994) and
one year of data with OEPUL being in place (1997) are available. From these 2053 farms,
1383 farms produced grain in all four years of observation.

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