Dairy Farm Management and Long-Term Farm Financial Performance

The financial performance and relationships between several management factors and financial performance are examined in a panel of 107 New York dairy farms. A panel regression model with fixed effects is estimated in an effort to identify management factors that influence profitability. The model is estimated with two-stage least squares to account for endogenous farm size and debt use variables. Production management factors such as farm size, rate of milk production, and milking system had a positive impact on farm profitability. Financial management variables for the type of accounting system used and the debt use were also significantly related to profitability. Unlike the findings of many other studies, measures of human capital did not have a statistically significant impact on profitability.