Working paper

Assessing the Environmental Performance of Agricultural Production Using a Parametric Approach: An Application for Crop Producers in Ukraine

Year:

2024

Published in:

Eastern European Economics
crop production
distance function
environmental efficiency
stochastic frontier

Agriculture is characterized not only by the production of desirable outputs but also by generating environmental pressures. This article emphasizes the necessity of accounting for “bad” outputs when assessing the performance of agricultural producers. It provides a first attempt to empirically evaluate the environmental performance of crop producers in Ukraine employing farm-level panel data. Our results suggest that the average environmental efficiency for crop producers in Ukraine was 0.84 over the period 2017–2019, meaning a reasonable scope exists for farmers to improve their environmental performance and contribute to meeting carbon reduction targets, as well as help achieve a green postwar economic recovery.