Ben Marmont
Project Title: Understanding the drivers of productivity in international dairy farming
Biography: Ben is an economist researching what drives productivity on Irish dairy farms and how these drivers compare with New Zealand and Australia. His work looks beyond simple productivity measures such as milk per cow, which can overlook the labour and capital (amongst other things) needed to produce it.
Instead, Ben uses total factor productivity: a broader measure that compares all of a farm’s outputs with all of the resources used to generate them. This helps to identify whether changes in productivity are coming from the use of existing resources, development of new technologies, or changes to the production environment such as climate.
Understanding these drivers matters because productive dairy farms can strengthen farm incomes and sector resilience while making more efficient use of scarce resources. This is particularly important as dairy farming responds to changing markets, environmental requirements and climate-related pressures. Ben’s research aims to provide evidence that can support practical farm decisions and well-designed agricultural policy.
Originally from New Zealand, Ben has a deep understanding of the NZ dairy sector having worked with DairyNZ for several years as an economist. He holds a Bachelor of Business (Economics) from Massey University and a Master of Management (Economics) from the University of Waikato.
Teagasc email: ben.marmont@teagasc.ie
University email: b.marmont@student.uq.edu.au
Teagasc Research Programme: Rural Economy and Development Programme
Research Location: Teagasc Moorepark – Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre
University: University of Queensland
Teagasc Supervisor:Dr Fiona Thorne, Dr Michele McCormack, Dr Laurence Shalloo
University Supervisor: Prof Christopher O’Donnell
Funder: Teagasc