Estimating missing organic data by multiple imputation: the case of organic fruit yields in Italy

Data on organic yields are still quite sparsely reported by official statistical sources for most of the European countries, including Italy. However, yield data is essential both at the micro and macro level to understand the economic sustainability for organic farmers, to verify the relative profitability conditions that could lead to widespread conversion of farmers and to assess the potential of organic farming for feeding the world. The aim of our study is to provide a review of available yield data and a feasible method to estimate missing data on organic yields from available sources. We apply Multiple Imputation (MI) exploiting the available data, expert assessment and structural information to recover missing data on organic fruit crop yields for the Central regions in Italy. This approach provides encouraging results, and interesting opportunities for further analysis.