Analysis of costs of ecoefficiency on German sugar beet growing farms

The monetary consequences of an ecoefficient production are controversially discussed. The main focus of this article is on the potential economic consequences for a sugar beet farmer who wants to increase the ecoefficiency of his production. The data is based on a farm survey among 109 sugar beet growing farms in Germany. Farmers were interviewed about their sugar beet cultivation in the year 2004 on 285 fields. On field level, ecoefficiency criteria for tillage, fertilizer application, plant protection and harvest were calculated and direct costs were estimated on the basis of application rates and prices in the year 2010. The values were used in regressions to find a potential functional relationship underlying the observed values. The results of the study showed that high ecoefficiency may on top improve economics in sugar beet cultivation of a farm. Increasing ecoefficiency by one unit results in a decrease of direct costs per ton white sugar yield of about EUR0.08.