Certification in agriculture ensures compliance with tangible standards and should generate economic opportunities for farmers. This study quantifies the variable profit and efficiency impacts of organic certification in dairy farming across Europe, using farm-level FADN data from 25 countries while accounting for heterogeneity through a class splitting model. Four distinct classes with dairy farm enterprises operating under similar production conditions were identified in order to assess gross margin and efficiency differences among certified and non-certified farms. Depending on the nature of the selection bias, treatment effects were estimated either through an endogenous treatment model or through entropy balancing. The results suggest that organic certification increases gross margins for dairy farm enterprises in Europe, while slightly increasing technical efficiency in two out of four classes. These significant effects of certification on efficiency were estimated at 2% and 7%, respectively. As regards variable profit, effects range from to 66 Euros per cow to 234 euros per cow. In relative terms, this implies gains between 38% and 50% for farms classified into more cool or temperate zones and a gain of up to 182% for the farms assigned to the class that designates warmer climatic conditions.

中文翻译：

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有机认证对欧洲的奶农有经济意义吗？——潜在的阶级反事实分析

农业认证确保符合有形标准，并应为农民创造经济机会。本研究使用来自 25 个国家/地区的农场级 FADN 数据，同时通过分类模型考虑异质性，量化了欧洲奶牛养殖有机认证的可变利润和效率影响。确定了在类似生产条件下经营奶牛场企业的四个不同类别，以评估认证和非认证农场之间的毛利率和效率差异。根据选择偏差的性质，通过内源性治疗模型或通过熵平衡来估计治疗效果。结果表明，有机认证提高了欧洲奶牛场企业的毛利率，同时在四类中的两类中略微提高了技术效率。认证对效率的这些显着影响估计分别为 2% 和 7%。至于可变利润，影响范围从每头奶牛 66 欧元到每头奶牛 234 欧元。相对而言，这意味着归类为更凉爽或温带地区的农场的收益在 38% 到 50% 之间，而分配到指定较温暖气候条件类别的农场的收益高达 182%。