Agricultural Productivity
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It is widely agreed that increased productivity, arising from
innovation and changes in technology, is the main contributor to
economic growth in U.S. agriculture. ERS data, research, and
analyses quantify productivity improvements, the sources of
improvement, and investigate the role of the public and private
sectors in fostering U.S. agricultural productivity growth through
research, education, infrastructure, and technological advances.
Research on global agricultural productivity focuses on quantifying
comparable productivity growth measures for countries and regions
worldwide.
- ERS' productivity accounts provide estimates of productivity
growth for the aggregate farm sector for the period 1948-2009, and
estimates of the growth and relative levels of productivity for the
individual States for the period 1960-2004. According to the
statistics (see Agricultural
Productivity in the U.S.), growth in farm sector output was due
almost entirely to productivity growth over the post-war
period.