Effects of agri‐environment schemes on farm‐level eco‐efficiency measures: Empirical evidence from <scp>EU</scp> countries

The European Union (EU) budget allocated to agri-environmental schemes (AES) has increased consistently over the past 20 years. citizens should expect effective spending of these public funds, so investigation effects on both environmental benefits and farm efficiency is warranted. We examine farm-level eco-efficiency. Our analysis combines data envelopment impact assessment methods evaluate scheme payments eco-efficiency measures. results suggest that there considerable scope for improvements, dairy crop production. Results also show average change in scores does not vary significantly between AES participants non-participants, which questions effectiveness present AES.