Effects of the measures envisaged in "Agenda 2000" on arable crop producers and beef and veal producers:: an application of Positive Mathematical Programming to representative farms of a Spanish region

The authors analyse the possible effects of the measures envisaged in "Agenda 2000", approved by the Berlin European Council of March 1999, on representative farms specialised in arable crop production and beef and veal production. Three economic sizes are considered for each of these types of farming (4-16 European Size Units [ESU], 16-40 ESU and > 40 ESU). The analysis is made by means of Positive Mathematical Programming, utilising quadratic cost functions. The results show that the increase in compensatory payments and premiums would not offset a possible decrease in market prices, and therefore, for most of the agricultural holdings studied, the economic results worsen. It is worth noting that the total subsidies share in agricultural incomes is notably increased. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.