Beef quality assurance initiatives have been developed to assure consumers of the quality and safety of supplied beef, as well as the environmental-orientation of farm production practices. However, the potential economic benefits of quality schemes to European beef cattle farmers have been overlooked. This paper uses farm-level data to identify the drivers of Irish farmers’ participation in Bord Bia's Beef and Lamb Quality Assurance Scheme (BLQAS) in 2012, and assesses the impact of participation on farm gross margins. After controlling for potential self-selection bias, we cannot find reliable evidence that the gross margins of participants in beef quality assurance schemes have been affected by their decision to participate. Consequently, lack of financial incentives can be a barrier to farmer participation in beef quality assurance schemes [EconLit citations: L25, M21, Q12].

中文翻译：

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牛肉质量保证计划：它们能否提高农场的经济绩效？

已经制定了牛肉质量保证计划，以向消费者保证所供应牛肉的质量和安全，以及农场生产实践的环境导向。然而，质量计划对欧洲肉牛养殖户的潜在经济效益却被忽视了。本文使用农场层面的数据来确定爱尔兰农民在 2012 年参与 Bord Bia 的牛肉和羊肉质量保证计划 (BLQAS) 的驱动因素，并评估参与对农场毛利率的影响。在控制了潜在的自我选择偏差后，我们找不到可靠的证据表明牛肉质量保证计划参与者的毛利率受到他们参与决定的影响。最后，