UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL AGRICULTURE THROUGH AGRI BENCHMARK

Understanding global trends and perspectives in agriculture is challenging. This paper presents the concept and some selected findings from agri benchmark regarding the perspectives of European sugar beet production, Latin American beef production and specialty crops in Kazakhstan. These case studies illustrate that the agri benchmark approach allows the identification of the drivers of growers’ decision making and their relevant options. Hence it is possible to assess likely future developments under changing economic framework conditions. In contrast, projections based on previous trends do not seem to yield meaningful results. In addition, the case studies demonstrate the value of having access to reliable farm level data which have been derived from a production system approach. At least in crops, FADN based cost of production estimates seem not to add value.