Eficiencia técnica de la producción de vacuno de carne en la dehesa

{The purpose of the paper is to estimate the technical efficiency in cattle farms of the region of Pedroches, in the north of the province of Cordoba where the deiaesa is the normal exten- sive production system. The analysis of the causes of the efficienc}' allows us to demonstrate if the breeding farms which are integrated in a feeding and marketing co-operative which sells the meat with a qualitv label (Covap) are more efficient. The used methodology con- sists of the estimation of a non parametric frontier function DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) from a survey of 50 cattle farms made in that region in 2002. The results show that the farms that arrange a more efficiency level are more intensive (livestock density and mechanization), that breed but also feed the calves, have less subsidies in their incomes, and their farmers are younger and have higher education. In other way, significative efficiency differences were not found between integrated beef farms and not integrated.