Economic Benefits of Digitization – the Case of Pork Production in Austria

Although there is a substantial body of literature examining the impact of innovation on agricultural productivity, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the effects of digitalisation, particularly in relation to livestock farming. We employ accounting data from pig farmers to estimate total factor productivity employing the control function approach. Then, the study examines the various factors that affect the productivity growth of farmers, such as the level of information and communication technologies (ICT) investments, farm size, and the age of the farmer. The results indicate that observed ICT investments have little impact on TFP levels and no impact on growth rates. A reason may be that ICT investments are not well represented in the data of 860 farms that were used for the analysis.