Estimating and explaining abatement potential and cost of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions using farm-level data and qualitative interviews

The project analyses the potential contribution of agriculture to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and provides farmers and decision makers with alternative management practices for GHG emission reductions. The project has four main objectives. First, we will derive GHG emissions at farm level for farms in the Austrian Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). To do so in a detailed and cost-efficient way, we combine FADN data with other existing datasets that contain information on farm management practices. We will publish the results of these emission estimates and our methodology to support future research. Second, we will use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to develop a benchmarking system for farm efficiency. This allows us to assess farms' economic and ecological (GHG efficiency) performance and identify optimization potentials. We will validate the benchmarking system together with a sample of pilot farms, using DEA to identify comparable (e.g., in size, farm type), efficient farms ("peers"). A direct comparison with peers will show specific ways of increasing the farms' efficiency. Third, the production models built for DEA allow us to quantify farm-level GHG emission reduction potentials and the associated marginal abatement costs (MAC). This enables us to identify trade-offs between economic and GHG efficiency, and thus between food security and climate change. Moreover, differences in MACs show where GHG emissions can be reduced cost-effectively. Fourth, we identify the farm-specific factors that determine GHG efficiency and MACs in a mixed-methods approach. We use statistical methods (regression analysis) to determine the relationship between farm structural factors (e.g., farm size, farm type, farm manager characteristics) and efficiency or MACs, respectively. We then use qualitative methods (interviews, Q Methodology, workshops) to investigate farmers’ goals and ideals, analyzing conflicts and synergies with GHG emission reduction. This will provide stakeholders with information on practicable leverage points for policies to support emission reductions. Overall, our project will thus contribute to evidence-based agricultural and climate policies that balance competitiveness and climate protection.