Research and agricultural productivity

Farm and Ranch April 25, 2011 A forum was held in Washington D.C. recently by the Farm Foundation on the future of the land grant university system. Agricultural research as part of that system was a focus of one the forums speakers, George Norton of Virginia Tech, who talked about the impact of declining federal and state support for research on agricultural productivity. He said the productivity rate is slowing.

Norton: “ Looking at average annual agricultural productivity growth rates over three periods of time and you can see that the resources we invested in the 60s and 70s paid off about 20 years later and the slow down in the 80s we are starting to see the effect of that. The thing that worries me is that just has not gone on in the United States but other countries as well. I also point out here there are a couple of exceptions to that. If you look at Brazil and China. Brazil has invested heavily in its ag research system. China has invested. And I say thank god they have or our markets would be in worse shape if they hadn‘t put that money into it.”

And of course China and Brazil are competitors of U.S. farmers and ranchers.

In addition to total productivity Norton also presented yield per acre figures, a partial measure of productivity.

Norton: “And it is a little bit disturbing, particularly the wheat numbers, which yield gains have gone down a third of what they were. These are still gains but they are not as rapid of gains as we were getting back in the 60s.”

Rice also has taken a drop while maize is more flat.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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