A Comprehensive Regional Approach to Eco-Efficiency in Spanish Agriculture over Time

Eco-efficiency, which integrates environmental and economic variables, is crucial for decision-making in agriculture, particularly within the framework of European environmental policy. The SBM-DEA tool has been applied in several studies, and facilitates the optimization of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the agricultural sector. Despite the significance of the Spanish agricultural economy at both European and international levels, the analysis of its eco-efficiency is limited and fragmented, and does not consider the regional disparities within the country. The objective of this study is therefore to assess the eco-efficiency of the Spanish regional agricultural sector during the period from 2004 to 2022, considering its regional and productive differences. This has been achieved using data from the Farm Accounting Network and the non-oriented SBM-DEA method with constant returns to scale. The eco-efficiency of the Spanish regional agricultural sector as a whole was estimated to range from 0.644 to 0.837, with an average value of 0.772 for the period analyzed. Forty-seven percent of the regions exceeded the average eco-efficiency. The data indicate significant opportunities to improve eco-efficiency and reduce GHG emissions at both the national (65.6%) and regional (ranging from 7.4 to 86.5%) levels. This paper discusses the need to develop regionalized strategies to optimize resource allocation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the Common Agricultural Policy.