2026_05_M_TANCHAUD

Le 7 mai 2026 de 13h00 à 14h00

à Pau, en salle des thèses; à Bayonne, en salle 110 via TEAMS 

Abstract :

We estimate the effects of biogas plant installations in France over 2010–2023 using a staggered difference-in-differences design. To address the endogenous location of biogas plants, identification relies on comparisons between treated and not-yet-treated farms, using estimators robust to treatment-effect heterogeneity across cohorts and over time. Across all outcomes we study, we find no evidence of differential pre-treatment trends. Our analysis covers two complementary dimensions. First, we examine farm revenues over the full 2010–2023 period. Second, we study agricultural practices over 2015–2023, a restriction driven by data availability, as practice-level data are not available prior to 2015. Our results on agricultural practices are consistent with the agronomy literature: biogas plant installation induces a reallocation of crop production toward short-cycle, sequentially harvested, and highly methanogenic crops, at the expense of longer-cycle crops. On the economic side, we find that these installations benefit plant owners. Spillover effects on neighbouring farmers are heterogeneous and depend on the type of residues processed, differing between livestock and crop farming systems. Turning to local environmental effects, we document contrasting patterns across farming types: biogas plant installations are associated with reduced fertilizer and pesticide use among livestock farmers, while the opposite holds for crop farmers, who exhibit increased input use following nearby installations