PR - Deriving Full Product Costs From Farm Accountancy Data (an Application For Swiss Dairy Farms In The Mountain Region)

This paper derives the full cost or full product cost for all activities or production branches of a sample of 48 Swiss dairy farms in the mountain region. For this purpose, data from the Swiss Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) are used, applying a non-proportional approach for joint cost allocation among production branches. This results in a median full product cost of CHF 2.12 per kilogram of milk, which is in accordance with the literature. In order to cope with potential price cuts in future, labour input per kilogram of milk, which is responsible for 60% of the full product cost, must be substantially reduced.

Key words: full product costs, production branch, dairy, Switzerland, mountain region