Technical Efficiency and Productivity Change of Dairy Farms: A comparison of France and Hungary

The paper investigates the difference in technical efficiency, productivity and technology between French and Hungarian dairy farms, in 2001 and 2002, using Data Envelopment Analysis with separate and a common frontier. Results indicate that Hungarian farmers are more clustered to their own frontier than French farms are, but French farms are, on the other hand, more scale efficient. Both samples have increased their productivity between both years, with a higher technological change for Hungary. Comparing the technology of both countries reveals that Hungarian farms have a superior technology. Under a common hypothetical technology, Hungarian farms would be the leaders but French farms would nevertheless succeed in increasing their productivity as much as they do under their own frontier.