Agriculture Productivity
Agricultural productivity refers to the efficiency of agricultural production, typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of input, such as land, labor, or capital. It is a key factor in determining the overall economic performance and food security of a region or country. Factors influencing agricultural productivity include technology, infrastructure, climate, and government policies.
4 Key excerpts on "Agriculture Productivity"
eBook - ePub- Rattan Lal(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...Given limits on the expansion of agricultural land, increases in both food production and farmers’ incomes depend critically on growth in agricultural output per unit of land, labor, and other inputs, i.e., agricultural productivity. While it has long been recognized that agricultural productivity depends directly on soil fertility, water-holding capacity, and other aspects of the quality of soil resources, these relationships have been difficult to quantify on global and regional scales owing to limitations of data and spatial variations in climate, topography, management practices, and other factors. [ 12 ] Improvements in spatially referenced data and analytical methods have allowed better understanding of the relationship between soil quality and agricultural productivity. To isolate and control the effects of differences between countries in land quality, Wiebe et al. [ 13 ] used spatially referenced soil and climate data in combination with new high-resolution land-cover data to measure the share of each country’s cropland that is not limited by major soil or climate constraints to agricultural production. Econometric analysis of this measure, controlling for levels of labor, fertilizer, and other inputs to agricultural production, indicates that in most regions of the world over the period 1961–1997, agricultural productivity was 20–30% higher in countries with above-average soils and climates than it was in countries with below-average soils and climates. Soil quality also influences the impact of other inputs on agricultural productivity...
eBook - ePubUS Agricultural and Food Policies
Economic Choices and Consequences
- Gerald D. Toland, Jr., William E. Nganje, Raphael Onyeaghala(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...We highlight how research efforts and changing technology have been critical factors in determining US agricultural productivity patterns. To logically guide our economic analysis, we utilize established production function theory and the latest empirical research. Our goal is to ascertain the factors most closely associated with past, present, and future US agricultural productivity trends. p.258 Next, we explore inter-relationships among productivity, sustainability, and climate change that are expected to shape the US agri-food system’s capacity to respond to changing economic and environmental conditions. Finally, to arrive at additional insights about long-run sustainable US agricultural production, we examine the economic consequences of alternative scenarios, policy options, and outcomes. Economic forces driving change in agricultural productivity and sustainability Definitions and terminology Before engaging in a more in-depth review of changes in sustainable agricultural production, it pays dividends to make an initial investment in clarifying our terms and definitions. Weighted-value indices of agricultural outputs and inputs. To create an estimate of changes in overall US agricultural productivity over time requires that we use reasonable and accepted methods of aggregating output and input values. Similar to the index-estimation techniques regularly used in empirical economic research, we determine an agricultural productivity indicator by utilizing a weighted-average aggregate index value for each observation over time in relation to a base-period index value. For example, if we are interested in the annual percent rates-of-change for agricultural output and/or input data, then the indexed data are calculated relative to base-year index values. There is a variety of techniques available to calculate indices for time-series data...
eBook - ePubAfter the Green Revolution
Sustainable Agriculture for Development
- Gordon R. Conway, Edward B. Barbier(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...More importantly, landowners who cultivate their own land or participate in the management of land rented to informal tenants, have a greater incentive to manage it sustainably. In contrast, informal tenants are unlikely, on their own, to take an interest in the long-term productivity of the land they are working. A definition of agricultural sustainability So far we have been using the term sustainability in a way that is roughly equivalent to persistence or durability. The implicit question that is asked about a particular agricultural practice or system is: will it last? Will it be productive not only in the immediate future, but over the long term, for present and future generations? Durability, however, has to be assessed in terms of the forces that are likely to cause the agricultural practice or system to collapse. We thus need a definition that embraces these forces. The common usage of the word “sustainable” suggests an ability to maintain some activity in the face of stress – for example to sustain physical exercise, such as jogging or doing press ups – and this seems to us also the most technically acceptable meaning. We thus define agricultural sustainability as the ability to maintain productivity, whether of a field or farm or nation, in the face of stress or shock. 8 A stress may be increasing salinity, or erosion, or debt; each is a frequent, sometimes continuous, relatively small, predictable force having a large cumulative effect. A major event such as a new pest or a rare drought or a sudden massive increase in input prices would constitute a shock, i.e. a force that was relatively large and unpredictable. Following stress or a shock the productivity of an agricultural system may be unaffected, or may fall and then return to the previous level or trend, or settle to a new lower level, or the system may collapse altogether. Sustainability thus determines the persistence or durability of a system’s productivity under known or possible conditions...
eBook - ePubEconomics of Feeding the Hungry
Sustainable Intensification and Sustainable Food Security
- Noel Russell(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...In addition, much of this land is already used for other purposes including forests that provide important carbon sequestration services and other globally important ecological services. Large tracts of the remaining land are subject to a range of problems arising from low fertility, degradation/toxicity, disease incidence or lack of suitable infrastructure for access. This means that this land can be made available for food production only after significant investment is made to alleviate these constraints. Economic incentives to support this investment may be lacking. A similar pattern summarises the availability of fresh water – adequate availability at a global level, but very limited availability is areas where the need is greatest. Availability is particularly limited in areas such as the Near East, North Africa and Northern China, where there are significant amounts of potentially fertile land where productivity is limited mainly by water availability during the growing season. Like water and irrigation, the use of chemical fertilisers and crop protection chemicals were central to the increased yields achieved during the Green Revolution of recent decades, so the continuing availability of these resources remains critical to achieving any future increase in yields and productivity. Current estimates suggest that availability of resources needed for these products, including reserves of phosphate and potassium raw materials, are adequate to support any foreseeable level of agricultural production over more than a century into the future. Growth in agricultural productivity, while remaining positive, has been slowing down over recent decades...
