Exploring the drivers of efficiency in organic and conventional soybean production

The significance of soybeans in Serbia is reflected in the fact that Serbia is the fourth country in Europe for soybean production. In order to anticipate the possibility of increasing soybean production in Serbia and thus contribute to increasing the supply of safe, reliable and constant protein to soybean users on the EU market completely; the goal of this research is to determine technical and cost efficiency of conventional and organic soybean producers in Serbia using non-parametric efficiency measurement technique - Data Envelopment Analysis and then to determine the sources of inefficiency of soybean production. The model is the result of a study of soybean producers in organic and conventional production systems. Both technical and cost efficiency are higher for organic producers (0.95 and 0.77, respectively) than for conventional farmers (0.69 and 0.41, respectively). Tobit models have identified additional sources of technical and cost inefficiency. Factors as farm size, production system, share of family labour, share of rented land, land fragmentation affect technical and cost efficiency. Level of education of farm managers, soil analysis and seed type have a statistically significant impact on technical efficiency, while participation in the project affects cost efficiency. In addition, the increased demand for non GMO conventional and organic soybean, primarily from EU countries, represents the development potential of the soybean producers in Serbia.