Felicity Addo, a researcher in the IIASA Integrated Biosphere Futures Research Group of the Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, received an award for her thesis from the Austrian Association for Agricultural Economics (ÖGA) as part of her work on the LAMASUS project.
Addo wrote a thesis on “Assessing Productivity and Efficiency, and its Determinants: The Case of Crop Farms in Austria”
Austrian crop farms face unique challenges due to their small size and natural disadvantages. Addo's thesis delves into the technical efficiency of these farms, revealing that while persistent efficiency is improving, transient inefficiencies remain a significant hurdle. Part-time farms tend to be more scale-efficient than full-time farms, and factors like farm size, specialization, and access to resources are key to success. With technological progress driving the sector forward, it is crucial for farmers to adapt and grow to remain competitive in the long term.
Addo's current scientific interests include agricultural production systems and value chains, food security, sustainable rural development, micro-economic modeling, and agricultural resource management and efficiency.
Adapted from a news item published on lamasus.de
LAMASUS – Land Management for Sustainability
LAMASUS develops an innovative governance model based on collaborative work by policy makers, land users, and researchers. LAMASUS creates an open access modelling toolbox to build sound land use policies in the framework of the European Green Deal.
LAMASUS is a Horizon Europe project working to ensure that the European Union’s climate neutrality target is met. We are creating an innovative modelling system that can anticipate the potential impacts of different agricultural and forestry policies. By using our tools, policy makers can evaluate the economic and environmental benefits of different policies over the mid-term and long-term. This will help to better inform decision making and create a more sustainable future.
News
28 April 2025
Balancing nature restoration and land use: a path to sustainable growth in the EU
Can nature restoration and economic productivity go hand in hand? A new study finds that the EU’s ambitious Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) is essential to achieving biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation targets and that it could be implemented without compromising the supply of agricultural and forest products.
17 April 2025
Collaborating to advance sustainability science across Africa
A new special issue of the Elsevier journal, Environmental Development, highlights pioneering research addressing the continent's most pressing environmental and development challenges. The issue is the result of an ongoing collaboration between IIASA and a growing network of African and international research partners, including the IIASA Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Member Organization (SSARMO).
04 April 2025
Balancing biodiversity and wood-based bioeconomy in the EU
The European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 aims to halt biodiversity loss and restore ecosystems, but what does this mean for Europe’s wood supply? In a new study, researchers examine how different modes of implementing the strategy’s conservation targets could influence forestry and the wood-based bioeconomy in the EU.