Projects

Global Agricultural Productivity Growth

Farm Foundation partnered with Global Harvest Intitiative (GHI) to examine global agricultural productivity growth, and to establish a global network of researchers studying agricultural productivity.

At the World Food Prize Symposium in Iowa on Oct. 13, 2010, Farm Foundation, GHI, and USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) unveiled the 2010 GAP Report™.  The report finds that the current rate of agricultural productivity growth is lagging the world’s expanding demands.  To close”…the gap without additional inputs, we must increase the rate of productivity growth an average of 25 percent more per year over the next 40 years,” according to Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin.  The GAP report is available at www.globalharvestinitiative.org.

ERS is also collaborating with Farm Foundation and GHI to develop the global network of researchers to encourage research on agricultural productivity.

The intent of the Measuring Global Agricultural Productivity project is to support ongoing calculation of global and regional measures of agricultural productivity, encourage additional research on productivity, improve the quality and availability of productivity-related data, and develop capacity for studying local, regional and national issues related to productivity in developing countries.

On May 11 and 12, 2010, Farm Foundation, GHI and USDA’s Economic Research Service hosted the workshop, Causes and Consequences of Global Agricultural Productivity.  Researchers from around the world shared share new research findings on agricultural productivity measurement and analysis.  Posted below are papers and presentations from the workshop.

Introductions and Overview
Kitty Smith, Economic Research Service
Neil Conklin, Farm Foundation

Global Measures of Agricultural Productivity
Productivity Growth in the Global Economy, Keith Fuglie, ERS 
Capital in Agriculture: A Panel Dataset,  Rita Butzer, University of Chicago.
Country Variability data
Agricultural Fixed Capital Stock data
Livestock data
Treestocks data

The United States and the European Union
International Comparisons of Agricultural Productivity: U.S.A. and EU Countries, Eldon Ball, ERS
Impact of Local Public Goods on Agricultural Productivity Growth in the United States, Sun Ling Wang, ERS

Canada and Australia
A Production Account for Canadian Agriculture, 1961-2006, Sean Cahill and Bruce Phillips, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Productivity of the Australian Broadacre and Dairy Industries: Concepts, Theories and Methods,Yu Sheng, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE)

EurAsia
Agriculture Productivity Paths in Central and Eastern European Countries and the Former Soviet Union, Liesbet Vranken, University of Leuven, Belgium
Chinese Regional Agricultural Productivity: 1994-2005,  Lilyan Fulginiti, University of Nebraska
Productivity in India: Review and Policy Implications,  Surabhi Mittal, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)

Sub-Saharan Africa
Policy Changes and the Recovery of Agricultural TFP in Sub-Saharan Africa,  Alejandro Nin-Pratt, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Total Factor Productivity in African Agriculture: Measures and Determinants,  Arega Alene, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Malawi
R&D and Agricultural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa,  Keith Fuglie, ERS

North and South Africa
Productivity and Growth in Tunisian Agriculture,  Boubaker Dhehibi, Tunisian National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRAT)
South African Agricultural Productivity and Investment Patterns,  Frikkie Liebenberg, South African Agricultural Research Council

South America
Growth and Productivity in Argentine Agriculture, Daniel Lema, Institute for Economics and Sociology, INTA, Argentina
Total Factor Productivity in Brazilian Agriculture, Jose Gasquest (Constanza Valdes presenting)

Southeast Asia
 Total Factor Productivity in Thai Agriculture: Measurement and Determinants, Waleerat Supannachart, Kasetsart University, Thailand
Indonesia: R&D, Market Liberalization and Productivity, Nick Rada, ERS

Discussion: Forming a Global Ag Productivity Research Network
Topics: Common methodology; information sharing and Web site; conferences and reports;
and financial support