Technical efficiency analysis in Italian sheep and goat farms using FADN dataset

The sheep and goat farms are one of the main breeding in many Italian regions located in mountainous and disadvantaged rural areas. One of the main Italian Protected Designation Origin cheese as Pecorino Romano is made by sheep milk from many regions. The main purpose of this research was to asses by a quantitative approach the technical efficiency in sheep and goat farms part of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) in all Italian regions since 2008 to 2020. By the Multi-direction Efficiency Analysis (MEA) it has been possible to overcome one of the main bottlenecks of the technical efficiency estimation analysing which is the excess in each input able to impact to the technical efficiency. Main results have pointed out that the Italian sheep and goat farms have a higher technical efficiency compared to other studies carried out in other European countries. Land capital, labour and assets have been the main inputs able to impact to the technical efficiency. Furthermore, an important role of subsidies to the sheep and goat Italian farms exists.