Science, Technology, and Competitiveness in Alberta's Agriculture and Food Sector

China: Export Market Prospects and Alberta's Agriculture Sector

چکیده تحقیق و توسعه نقش عمده‏ای در نوآوری، افزایش بهره‏وری و بهبود رشد اقتصادی ایفا می‏کند. مطالعه حاضر تأثیر مخارج تحقیق و توسعه را بر رشد و بهره‏وری کل عوامل تولید در بخش کشاورزی ایران مورد بررسی قرار داده است. مدل رشد و بهره‏وری با استفاده از داده‏های مربوط به سال‏های 1386-1353 و الگوی خودتوضیح با وقفه‏های گسترده مورد برآورد قرار گرفت. نتایج پژوهش حاکی از آن است که در کوتاه‏مدت و بلندمدت، مخارج تحقیق و توسعه، تأثیر مثبت و معنی‏داری بر رشد و بهره‏وری کل عوامل تولید در بخش کشاورزی ایران دارد. لذا سرمایه‏گذاری در تحقیق و توسعه می‏تواند به عنوان یک منبع اصلی برای رشد بیشتر بخش کشاورزی مدنظر قرار گیرد. واژه‏های کلیدی: بخش کشاورزی، بهره‏وری کل عوامل تولید، تحقیق و توسعه، رشد، ایران طبقه‏بندی JEL:,D24 ,O4 Q16

This paper analyses the productivity growth of Western Australian broadacre agriculture for the period 1977/78 to 1999/00. The growth of aggregate outputs, inputs and total factor productivity (TFP) is estimated by applying a non-parametric approach and the productivity performance of WA agriculture is compared with that of other Australian states. The TFP growth in WA agriculture has been the second highest at 4.8 percent per annum. Within WA, among the broadly defined industry groups, the Crops industry has experienced the highest TFP growth of 7.1 percent per annum. The transfer and adoption of new technologies appear to have had a positive impact on the TFP growth of WA agriculture, besides the influence of seasonal conditions. Research and development (R&D) contributions of the Department of Agriculture Western Australia appear to have significantly influenced the State’s agricultural productivity growth.

Continuous cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) production was examined using data from Alabama's long‐term Old Rotation experiment (c. 1896). Index values were used to examine trends in productivity and sustainability for 95 yr. Treatments studied were those receiving (i) no N fertilizers and no winter legumes for 95 yr, (ii) only winter legumes as a source of N, and (iii) chemical fertilizer N. Three sets of index numbers were calculated from all inputs and outputs involved in the production systems: (i) total factor productivity (TFP), which accounts for all direct production inputs, but which does not consider production externalities; (ii) productivity relative to a base plot;and (iii) total social factor productivity (TSFP), which accounts for all direct production inputs as well as externalities of soil erosion and pesticide use. Viewed from the 95‐yr perspective of the Old Rotation experiment, all three treatments fulfill at least one criterion required for a system to be considered sustainable. Output per unit of input is higher in 1991 than in 1896, even when externalities are valued. None of the systems showed a linear trend in output or TFP over the life of the experiment;productivity cycles are present in all three systems, despite a positive overall trend. An average annual rate of TSFP growth of 1.8%/yr was attained. Accounting for erosion and pesticide externalities reduced the annual productivity growth rate by 0.2%/yr. The system that has neither an organic nor a chemical source of added N was less productive and less sustainable than the two other systems, with a 0.3%/yr TSFP growth rate. The plots using organic and chemical sources of N had similar productivity impacts. Valuing soil erosion and pesticide externalities had only a modest effect on measured productivity. The most dramatic single event to affect the productivity of cotton farming was the introduction of the mechanical cotton picker. The impact of this technology was powerful enough to offset the effect of many other changes in the system. Research Question Is cotton production in the southeastern USA sustainable? How do we measure sustainability of a crop that has been produced for almost 200 yr in the same region but has a reputation for depleting the soil of nutrients, extensive soil erosion, and high pesticide use? The objective of this study was to use input and output indexes and a calculation of total factor productivity (TFP) to determine if cotton production using different management strategies is sustainable over nearly a century of continuous production. Literature Summary Most researchers agree that a sustainable system should maintain or enhance agricultural production, reduce the level of production risk for the farmer, protect natural resources, be economically viable, and be socially acceptable. Measuring all of these attributes of a production system is very difficult. However, using the extensive data available from historical, long‐term experiments should provide insight as to sustainability of certain production systems. Alabama's Old Rotation (c. 1896) is the oldest continuous cotton experiment in the world. Input and output (yield) records and estimates allow calculation of TFP indexes over the 95‐yr history of continuous cotton production. Different cotton production systems can be compared. Study Description Three continuous cotton systems from the Old Rotation were chosen for comparison: (i) No N and no winter legumes since 1896 (No N), (ii) winter legumes (crimson clover and/or vetch) as the only source of N since 1896 (winter legumes), and (iii) no winter cover crop and 120 lb N/acre as ammonium nitrate since 1956 (N fertilizer). Where input records were not recorded (e.g., labor, costs, machinery, etc.), they were estimated from USDA, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, and Alabama Cooperative Extension Service publications. Soil erosion estimates for the three cropping systems on a Pacolet fine sandy loam, were made using Erosion Productivity Index Calculator modeling. Input, output, TFP, and total social factor productivity (TSFP) indexes for 95 yr were calculated. Total social factor productivity includes estimated values for the negative offsite effects of soil erosion and pesticide use. Applied Questions Is continuous cotton production sustainable? Viewed from the 95‐yr perspective of the Old Rotation, the no N, winter legume, and N‐fertilized continuous cotton plots all fulfill at least one criterion required for a system to be sustainable. Output per unit of input is higher in 1991 than in 1896, even when externalities (erosion and pesticides) are valued. The average growth rates on the No N plot are 0.5%/yr for TFP and 0.3%/yr for TSFP. On the winter legume plot, TFP and TSFP grew at a rate of 2.0%/yr and 1.8%/yr, respectively. The plots using organic and chemical sources of N had similar productivity records. None of the systems shows a linear trend in TFP over the history of the experiment. Productivity cycles are present in all three systems, despite the positive overall trend. An important focus of future research will be to explain whether these cycles are related to weather, technology, or changes in the resource base. As one would expect, the system that has neither an organic or a chemical source of added N is less productive than the two other systems. This system compares even more poorly when externality costs are assigned. Organic and chemical sources of N have similar productivity impacts. How have externalities such as soil erosion and the negative impact of pesticide use on the environment affected TFP? Soil erosion and pesticide externalities have had only a modest effect on measured productivity. The no N plot indexes are not changed at all; TFP on the legume and N‐fertilized plots decreased by 4 and 6%, respectively. The main conclusions of the previous question are therefore unaffected. How have technological advancements affected long‐term productivity/sustainability of continuous cotton production? The most dramatic single event to affect productivity was the introduction of the mechanical cotton picker around 1960. The impact of this technology is powerful enough to offset the effect of many other changes in the system. This advancement allowed cotton production to move from a labor‐intensive environment with increasing labor costs per pound of yield to an environment where harvesting costs were not seriously affected by increasing yields. Because technological advancements cannot be predicted into the future, predicting the long‐term sustainability of a system becomes very difficult.

• By 2050, global agricultural demand is projected to grow by 70-100 percent due to population growth, energy demands, and higher incomes in developing countries. Meeting this demand from existing agricultural resources will require raising global agricultural total factor productivity (TFP)1 by a similar level. Maintaining the U.S. contribution to global food supply would also require a similar rise in U.S. agricultural TFP. • TFP growth in U.S. agriculture is predicated on long-term investments in public agricultural research and development (R&D). Productivity growth also springs from agricultural extension, farmer education, rural infrastructure, private agricultural R&D, and technology transfers, but the force of these factors is compounded by public agricultural research. • The rate of TFP growth (and therefore output growth) of U.S. agriculture has averaged about 1.5 percent annually over the past 50 years. Stagnant (inflation-adjusted) funding for public agricultural research since the 1980s may be causing agricultural TFP growth to slow down, although statistical analyses of productivity growth trends are inconclusive. • ERS simulations indicate that if U.S. public agricultural R&D spending remains constant (in nominal terms) until 2050, the annual rate of agricultural TFP growth will fall to under 0.75 percent and U.S. agricultural output will increase by only 40 percent by 2050. Under this scenario, raising output beyond this level would require bringing more land, labor, capital, materials, and other resources into production. • Additional public agricultural R&D spending would raise U.S. agricultural productivity and output growth. Raising R&D spending by 3.73 percent annually (offsetting the historical rate of inflation in research costs) would increase U.S. agricultural output by 73 percent by 2050. Raising R&D spending by 4.73 percent per year (1-percent annual growth in inflation-adjusted spending) would increase output by 83 percent by 2050.

This paper estimates the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) index for the U.S. agricultural sector from the period 1970 to 2004 and decomposes the resulting TFP estimation in the Trans-logarithmic production function for U.S. agriculture for the same period to determine the residual measure that explains variation in output aside from land, labor and capital inputs. The objective is to identify the major sources of agricultural productivity in the U.S. from the period mentioned and furthermore estimate the residual in the production function that the Neoclassical production function does not explicitly explain.The results indicate a collective contribution of intermediate inputs such as pesticides use and energy inputs and infrastructural development spending such as overall federal disbursement on highway on TFP and consequently on agricultural output growth for the time period under consideration.

We analyze the evolution of Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA's) agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) over the past 45 years, looking for evidence of recent changes in growth patterns using an improved nonparametric Malmquist index. Our TFP estimates show a remarkable recovery in the performance of SSA's agriculture between 1984 and 2006 after a long period of poor performance and decline. That recovery is the consequence of improved efficiency in production, resulting from changes in the output structure and an adjustment in the use of inputs. Policy interventions, including fiscal, trade, and sector-specific policies, appear to have played an important role in improving agricultural performance. Despite the improved agricultural performance, economies in SSA face serious challenges to sustain growth. Among these are the small contribution of technological change to TFP growth in the past, the large tax burden imposed by remaining distortions, and the challenge of population growth.

Rapid increases in agricultural commodity prices during 2006-08 raised concerns that agricultural productivity growth may not be keeping up with increasing demand for agricultural commodities. ERS has developed a new index of total factor productivity (TFP) in global agriculture to provide a more comprehensive understanding of longrun sources of agricultural output growth. ERS research shows that the average rate of growth in global agricultural TFP has accelerated in recent decades and accounts for an increasing share of growth in agricultural production. Faster TFP growth has offset declining growth in agricultural land, labor, and other resources, although TFP growth across countries and global regions remains unevenly distributed.

The impact of climate change and production technology heterogeneity on China's agricultural total factor productivity and production efficiency

Agricultural endeavour in India has moved from being a traditional farming practice to a more modern and mechanized enterprise. One of the important prerequisite for raising agricultural production and mitigating supply constraints is enhancing agricultural productivity. Since traditional input resources are limited, an increase in agricultural production has to come from enhancing agricultural productivity. With the onset of Green Revolution in India, the contribution of modern technology towards raising agricultural production has been immense. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth in agriculture assesses the contribution of knowledge and efficiency towards raising agricultural production. For a comprehensive study of growth of the agriculture sector, TFP analyses should include the allied sectors like livestock, forestry and fishing as well. However, in estimating agricultural TFP growth, it is essential to account for the type of land being used for crop production. An addition of an acre of irrigated land will be much more productive than an addition of rainfed land. Similarly, an acre of rainfed land will yield more crop than an acre of pastureland, which is usually used for grazing purpose for livestock. Access to irrigated land protects farmers from the risks and uncertainties of vagaries of weather. In this study we derive weights for rainfed cropland, irrigated cropland and pastureland based on their relative productivity. Using the traditional Solow index method and accounting for different land type viz. rainfed land, irrigated land and pasture land, we measure TFP growth of the agriculture and allied sector in India from 1981 to 2008. Our results show that agricultural TFP growth in India for this period ranged between 1% during 1981-1990 to about 1.7% during 2000-2008. Growth in TFP was higher during the post reform period than during the pre reform period. We also find that usage in agricultural inputs has declined during the post reform period compared to the pre reform period. Our findings also show that, though contribution of TFP towards output growth was declining during the initial years, it however shows a rising trend towards explaining output growth during the last decade.

Some studies have reported a slowdown in U.S. farm productivity growth, but the prevalent view among economists is to reject or downplay the slowdown hypothesis, implying that the rates of productivity growth experienced over the past half century can be projected forward. We set out to resolve this issue, which matters both for understanding the past and anticipating the future. Using newly compiled multifactor and partial-factor productivity estimates, developed for the purpose, we examine changes in the pattern of U.S. agricultural productivity growth over the past century. We detect sizable and significant slowdowns in the rate of productivity growth. Across the 48 contiguous states for which we have very detailed data for 1949–2007, U.S. multifactor productivity (MFP) growth averaged just 1.18 percent per year during 1990–2007 compared with 2.02 percent per year for the period 1949–1990. MFP in 44 of the 48 states has been growing at a statistically slower rate since 1990. Using a longer-run national series, since 1990 productivity growth has slowed compared with its longer-run growth rate, which averaged 1.52 percent per year for the entire period, 1910–2007. More subtly, the historically rapid rates of MFP growth during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s can be seen as an aberration relative to the long-run trend. A cubic time-trend model fits the data very well, with an inflection around 1962. We speculate that a wave of technological progress through the middle of the twentieth century—reflecting the progressive adoption of various mechanical innovations, improved crop varieties, synthetic fertilizers and other chemicals, each in a decades long process—contributed to a sustained surge of faster-than-normal productivity growth throughout the third quarter of the century. A particular feature of this process was to move people off farms, a one-time transformation of agriculture that was largely completed by 1980.

چکیده تحقیق و ترویج کشاورزی اجزایی از یک سیستم مشابهند که در چارچوب تشکیلات سازمانی مختلف فعالیت می کنند و هدف نهایی مشترکی دارند. پیوند بین تحقیق و ترویج برای رسیدن به این اهداف مشترک ضروری می‌باشد. با توجه به اینکه فعالیت هر یک از این دو بخش به طور مجزا حائز اهمیت است، سرمایه گذاری در یک بخش نبایستی سرمایه گذاری بخش دیگر را تحت الشعاع قرار دهد، بنابراین هدف کلی این مطالعه بررسی ارتباط جانشینی یا مکملی بین سرمایه گذاری در تحقیقات کشاورزی و آموزش و ترویج کشاورزی می‌باشد. به این منظور از مدل بهره وری کل عوامل استفاده شد، بهره وری کل عوامل نیز از شاخص ترنکوئیست-تیل محاسبه گردید. آمار و اطلاعات طی سالهای 1357 تا 1383، از سایت‌ها و منابع مختلف آماری جمع آوری شد. نتایج نشان داد یک درصد افزایش در سرمایه گذاری های تحقیقاتی، بهره وری کل بخش کشاورزی را 080974/0 درصد افزایش می دهد. همچنین افزایش یک درصدی در مخارج ترویج و آموزش، بهره وری کل کشاورزی را 038398/0 درصد افزایش می دهد. متغیر ارتباط متقابل تحقیق و ترویج کشاورزی نیز با علامت منفی معنی دار شد. منفی شدن ضریب متغیر ارتباط متقابل بین سرمایه گذاری در تحقیقات کشاورزی و آموزش و ترویج بر این مطلب دلالت دارد که این دو متغیر به منظور تاثیر بر بهره وری کل عوامل به صورت جانشین هم عمل می کنند و علت آن را می توان به خاطر اندک بودن بودجه های تحقیقات و ترویج و آموزش کشاورزی دانست. واژه‌های کلیدی: بهره وری کل عوامل، تحقیق، ترویج، ترنکوئیست- تیل، بخش کشاورزی، ایران

The most important aggregate measure of the long run health of the productive component of the agricultural economy is agricultural total factor productivity (TFP). Between 1948 and 2011, average annual input growth in US agriculture averaged approximately 0.07% while annual average output growth averaged roughly 1.5%. That translates into an annual average agricultural TFP growth rate of approximately 1.43%. That growth has led to a remarkable expansion of the productive ability of the US agricultural sector. However, climate change poses unprecedented challenges to U.S. agricultural production because of the sensitivity of agricultural productivity and costs to changing climate conditions. Some studies have examined the effect of climate change on U.S. agriculture. But none has investigated how climate affects the overall U.S. agricultural productivity. This study intends to find out climate change impacts on U.S. agricultural TFP change (TFPC). By correlation analysis with data in 1979-2005, we found that precipitation and temperature had significant positive or negative correlations with U.S. agricultural TFPC. Those correlation coefficients ranged from -0.8 to 0.8. And significant correlations, whether positive or negative, existed in different regions and different seasons. This is important information for policy-makers in decisions to support U.S. agriculture sustainability.

In Vietnam, agriculture is a key sector that promotes economic growth and poverty reduction. Therefore, improving productivity in agriculture is indispensable to the sustainability of the country. This research examined productivity and its determinants from 420 enterprises operating in agriculture. Productivity was measured as the total factor productivity (TFP) obtained from fixed and random effects models. The determinants of TFP including size and age, share of state and foreign ownership, export, accessibility to Internet and bank loan of firms, controlled for year fixed effects, were analyzed. It was shown that 74.6% companies in the agricultural sector were small in size (< 10 < 200 employees). Although the number of large firms (>300 employees) explained 10.6%, they had a remarkable and positive TFP (38.8%, p < 0.01), while both small and very small (<10, and <200 employees, respectively) had strikingly negative TFP values (−71.3% and −32.1%, respectively, p < 0.01), as compared to the medium sizes (< 200 < 300 employees). It was also revealed that although foreign ownership was only 3.8% on average, it had a notably positive effect on TFP (55.0%, p < 0.01). In contrast, state ownership accounted for 30.7%, but it had a negative influence on TFP (−7.5%). The export contributed a negligible and statistically significant effect to TFP (2.6%), which might be attributed to a limited number of firms (4.5%) having mobility in agricultural export. 73% received a bank loan, and only 18.2% had access to the Internet, but both of them yielded remarkable TFP values (18.5%, p < 0.01 and 3.4%, p < 0.05 respectively). The Hausman test indicated that the fixed effects (FE) model was more effective than the random effects (RE) model to estimate the TFP. The findings of this study suggested that reform efforts should focus on improving the productivity of small agricultural enterprises. In addition, foreign investment, effective use of bank loan and Internet accessibility should be further enhanced. The results of this study may provide insights for policymakers who aim to improve the productivity in agricultural enterprises and thereby contribute to the sustainable growth of the country.

The scientific and reasonable measurement of agricultural green total factor productivity is helpful to grasp the direction of rural-factor-market reform. This study constructs a Malmquist productivity index based on a non-radial and non-angular SBM directional distance function. This study calculates the agricultural green total factor productivity of 28 provinces (cities and autonomous regions) in China from 1997 to 2020 by considering unexpected outputs such as carbon emissions and agricultural non-point-source pollution. Finally, this study uses the spatial Dobbin model to explore the spatial impact of agricultural green total factor productivity under the distortion of the factor market. The results show that the agricultural green total factor productivity, considering the unexpected outputs, is more in line with the level of high-quality green development in China’s agriculture. Regardless of whether the unexpected output is included, the increase in China’s agricultural total factor productivity is primarily due to progress in agricultural technology, and the double boost is little in agricultural technology progress and technical efficiency. Agricultural green total factor productivity shows an increasing trend, but the growth rate is slow, and differences in different regions are significant. Factor market distortion negatively impacts agricultural green total factor productivity, and other factors improve the agricultural total green factor productivity. However, factor market distortion has a particular spatial spillover effect, which hinders the synchronous growth of agricultural green total factor productivity in different regions. Therefore, the government should promote the reform of the agricultural mode of production and agricultural green production, eliminate the blocking effect of factor market distortion on the improvement in agricultural green total factor productivity, narrow the regional gap of agricultural total factor productivity, and establish a policy system for high-quality green development of modern agriculture.