Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
for energy, and the quantity of energy-based input was the sum of fertiliser
and agricultural chemicals, expressed in 1990 constant national currencies.
Inputs of biological origin (seed and feed) are aggregated in biological
inputs, and other intermediate consumption is grouped in others, all in
1990 prices. The labour quantity is annual work units by hired and family
labour. Capital is measured as depreciation deflated by the repair price
index. Land is agricultural area in hectares.
Before the econometric analysis, a description of input usage is
presented. Table 5.1 shows the mean input-output ratios for variable inputs
and capital for each country. Ratios for labour and land are not presented
because they are not in comparable units (awu/national currency at 1990
prices, and hectares/national currency at 1990 prices, respectively). The
joint share of land and labour can be calculated as 1 minus the sum of the
included input-output ratios. There are important differences in input
intensities between countries, suggesting different agricultural
technologies. Although there is a positive correlation between mean energy
ratios and mean ratios for the other inputs, this is not statistically
significant.
The growth rates for output and the different inputs are presented
in Table 5.2. The decline in energy for Sweden and the United Kingdom
and the strong increase for Greece, Spain and Italy, are remarkable. For
energy based inputs, it is worth noting the increase for Spain, and the
decline for Sweden and Netherlands. In general, Spain, Greece, and Italy
increased their consumption of intermediate inputs, and Austria, Sweden
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