pgs. 559–574, Via online journal, The aim of this paper is to assess the eco-efficiency of dairy farms in Spain. To do so, we use data from a survey carried out in 2010 for the specific purpose of analysing the environmental performance of 50 dairy farms in the Spanish region of Asturias. The survey contains information on nutrients balances and greenhouse gas emissions which is used to calculate environmental pressure indicators. Eco-efficiency is measured using data envelopment analysis. We analyse the influence of farmers’ socio-economic characteristics and attitudes in explaining these eco-efficiency scores using truncated regression and bootstrapping procedures. On average, the dairy farms are found to be highly eco-inefficient. Among our results, farmers that are younger, that plan to continue in operation in the foreseeable future and that participate more in training schemes are found to be more eco-efficient. Self-reported positive environmental habits are also reflected in actual eco-efficient performance. We quantify these potential gains in eco-efficiency through a simulation analysis based on the estimated model’s coefficients.
10 pages., via online journal., This article analyses the role of media in the representation and circulation of the term ‘social licence’ within public debate. It does so in the context of an increasingly global political economy of forests, growing public interest in resource procurement and environmental sustainability, and new forms of mediatized environmental conflict that carry volatile notions of ‘the affected’. Drawing on a longitudinal study of the three-decade-long conflict over forests and forestry in the Australia's southern island state of Tasmania, this research outlines the emergence, embedding and decline of the term ‘social licence’ in national and local media coverage. The article argues that the term's openness and strategic deployment by stakeholders in news media exposes industries, markets and communities to continuing conflict, while making the term a site for conflict itself. The article concludes by asking how – within the context of expanding international markets and complex supply chains, and sophisticated use of media by campaigners, corporations and governments – ‘social licence’ can be a publicly useful concept.
