Overview
It is widely agreed that increased productivity is the
main contributor to economic growth in U.S. agriculture. This
data set provides estimates of productivity growth in the U.S.
farm sector over the 1948-2004 period, and estimates of the growth
and relative levels of productivity across the States for the
period 1960-2004. Note that this data series has been revised
with this release (see the complete
documentation for details, or go
to the data tables).
The level of farm output in 2004 was 167 percent above its
level in 1948 for an average annual rate of growth of 1.74 percent.
Input use actually
declined in aggregate (labor has been departing the sector and
land use has declined slightly, while capital influx has been
modest), so the positive growth in farm sector output is wholly
due to productivity growth.
This contrasts with a 3.7-percent annual output increase in the private
nonfarm sector, with productivity growth accounting for a little
more than a third of the economic growth.
But what exactly
is productivity?
Single-factor measures of productivity, such as
corn production per acre (yield or land productivity) or per
hour of labor (labor productivity), have been used for many years
because the underlying data are often easily available. While
useful, such measures can also mislead. For example,
yields could increase simply because farmers are adding more
of other inputs, such as chemicals, labor, or machinery, to their
land base. USDA produces measures of total factor productivity,
taking account of the use of all inputs to the production process.
Specifically, annual productivity growth is the difference between
growth of agricultural output and the growth of all
inputs taken together (methods for combining inputs are described
in the documentation).
Productivity therefore measures changes in the efficiency with
which inputs are transformed into outputs. USDA also produces
State-level productivity measuresannual productivity
growth rates as well as cross-State differences in levels of
productivity, or differences in output per unit of combined inputs.
Input measures are adjusted for changes in their quality,
such as improvements in the efficacy of chemicals and seeds,
changing demographics of the farm workforce, or innovations
in machinery design. As a result, agricultural productivity is
driven by innovations in onfarm tasks, changes in the organization
and structure of the farm sector, research aimed at improvements
in farm production, and/or random events like weather.
Major findings of the data include:
- Agricultural output did not grow during 1999-2002, and productivity
showed no growth in 2000-02. But the return of favorable weather
in 2003 and 2004 led to sharp increases in output and productivity,
with productivity growing by 4.4 percent in 2003 and 6.0 percent
in 2004. On average, then, productivity continued to grow rapidly
in 1999-2004, by 2.8 percent per year (see
table).
- U.S. agricultural productivity growth compares
favorably to agricultural productivity growth in other industrialized
countries, and to productivity growth in the overall U.S. economy
(Ball et al.,
2001, 2007).
-
All but four States exhibited positive rates of growth in agricultural
output over the 1960-2004 period. Output expanded most rapidly in Arkansas,
growing an average 2.8 percent per year (see table).
- Every State exhibited a positive
average annual rate of productivity
growth over the entire 45-year period. Average
annual rates of growth ranged from 2.6 percent for Oregon
to 0.5 percent for Oklahoma.
California and Florida had the highest relative levels
of productivity in 2004 (see table).
Data Files
Tables are in Excel. A single workbook with
all tables in multiple worksheets is also available: AllTables.xls
National
Tables, 1948-2004
|
Table 1Indices
of farm output, input, and total factor productivity for the
United States, 1948-2004 |
Table 2Sources
of growth in the U.S. farm sector (average annual rates) |
State-Level
Tables, Relative Level Indices and Growth, 1960-2004 |
Outputs |
Table
3Total farm output by State |
Table
4Crop output |
Table
5Livestock output |
Table
6Other farm-related output |
Inputs |
Table
7Total farm input by State |
Table
8Capital
input (excluding land) |
Table
9Land
input |
Table
10Total
labor input |
Table
11Hired labor |
Table
12 Self-employed and unpaid family labor |
Table
13Total
intermediate input |
Table
14Energy input |
Table
15Agricultural chemical input |
Table
16Pesticide consumption |
Table
17Fertilizer consumption |
Table
18Other intermediate inputs |
Total Factor Productivity |
Table 19Indices
of total factor productivity by State |
State Ranking Tables |
Table 20States
ranked by level and growth of farm output |
Table 21States
ranked by level and growth of inputs |
Table 22States
ranked by level and growth of productivity |
AllTables.xlsAll
of the above, table 1 through table 22 in one Excel workbook |
Data Documentation and Methods
Get details about how the data series is
constructed, and examples of its use in research.
|