Assessing programmes for the provision of agri-environmental services – An efficiency analysis realized in Southern Germany

Agricultural land use does not only concern farmers, but is of high relevance for the environment. Agri-environmental programmes aim to foster the environmental soundness of agricultural production. The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of agri-environmental programmes on the economic and the environmental performance of farms. Using the nonparametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), we calculated the economic as well as the environmental efficiencies of farms and examined whether farms are able to succeed in combining environmental and economic efficiency. As study object serves a South German agri-environmental programme, the Bavarian KULAP. A farm survey was conducted covering a total of 102 farmers. The results show that farmers who participate in agri-environmental measures with tight requirements succeed in combining environmental and economic efficiency. We conclude that DEA is a suitable instrument for assessing agri-environmental programmes.