Strategies regarding input use on dairy farms in Austria - results of a cluster and matching analysis

In order to increase competitiveness of their farms, dairy farmers select certain strategies regarding input use. We identify these strategies in an agricultural bookkeeping dataset and assess economic impacts of the strategy selection under volatile prices situations using cluster analysis and direct covariates matching. We find one low-input cluster with low levels of input use and three clusters with rather higher input levels. Those clusters differ in site conditions, farm size and milk production but have similar farm income. Furthermore the results indicate that low-input farms are competitive under volatile markets.