Overview
Increased productivity is the
main contributor to growth in U.S. agriculture. This data set
provides estimates of productivity growth in the United States
for 1948-2004, and estimates of productivity growth and relative
productivity levels across States for 1960-1999.
Note that this data series has been revised with this release
(see the complete
documentation for details, or go
to the data tables).
The level of farm output in 2004 was 167 percent above its
level in 1948 for an average annual rate of growth of 1.74 percent.
Input use actually
declined in aggregate (labor has been departing the sector and
land use has declined slightly, while capital influx has been
modest), so the positive growth in farm sector output is wholly
due to productivity growth.
This contrasts with a 3.7-percent annual output increase in the private
nonfarm sector, with productivity growth accounting for a little
more than a third of the economic growth.
But what exactly
is productivity?
Single-factor measures of productivity, such as
corn production per acre (yield or land productivity) or per
hour of labor (labor productivity) have been used for many years
because the underlying data are often easily available. While
useful, such measures can also mislead. For example,
yields could increase simply because farmers are adding more
of other inputs, such as chemicals, labor, or machinery, to their
land base. USDA produces measures of total factor productivity,
taking account of the use of all inputs to the production process.
Specifically, annual productivity growth is the difference between
the growth of agricultural output, minus the growth of all inputs
taken together (methods for combining inputs are described in
the documentation).
Productivity therefore measures changes in the efficiency with
which inputs are transformed into outputs. USDA also produces
State-level productivity measures—annual productivity
growth rates as well as cross-State differences in levels of
productivity, or differences in output per unit of combined inputs.
Input measures are adjusted for improvements in input quality
associated, for example, with improvements in the efficacy of
chemicals and seeds, the demographics of the farm workforce,
or innovations in machinery design. As a result, agricultural
productivity is driven by innovations in onfarm tasks, changes
in the organization and structure of the farm sector, research
aimed at improvements in farm production, or random events like
weather.
Major findings of the data include:
- Agricultural output did not grow during 1999-2002, and productivity
showed no growth in 2000-02. But the return of good weather
in 2003 and 2004 led to sharp increases in output and productivity,
with productivity growing by 4.4 percent in 2003 and 6.0 percent
in 2004. On average, then, productivity continued to grow rapidly
in 1999-2004, by 2.8 percent per year (see
table).
- U.S. agricultural productivity growth compares
favorably to agricultural productivity growth in other industrialized
countries, and to productivity growth in the overall U.S. economy.
- Every State exhibited a positive
average annual rate of productivity
growth over 1960-99. Average annual rates
ranged from 2.6 percent for Michigan to
0.9 percent for Wyoming.
Florida and Georgia had the highest levels of productivity
in 1999 (see table).
USDA has been monitoring the agricultural industry's productivity
for decades. In 1960, USDA was the first to introduce
multifactor productivity measurement into the Federal statistical
program. ERS produces total factor productivity measures for the
aggregate farm sector from production accounts that distinguish
multiple outputs and inputs, adjust for quality change in each
input category, and recognize that some farm production (e.g., breeding
livestock) is an investment good as well as an agricultural output.
See the complete data documentation...
Data Files
Tables are in Excel. A single workbook with
all tables in multiple worksheets is also available: AllTables.xls
| National
Tables, 1948-2004
|
 |
Table 1—Indices of farm output,
input, and total factor productivity for the United States,
1948-2004 |
|
Table 2—Sources of growth:
U.S. farm sector (average annual growth rates) |
| State-Level
Tables, 1960-1999 |
| —Outputs |
|
Table 3—Indices of farm output
by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative levels |
|
Table 4—Indices of crop output
by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative levels |
|
Table 5—Indices of livestock
output by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative levels |
|
Table 6—Indices of services
output by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative levels |
| —Inputs |
|
Table 7—Indices of total
input by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative levels |
|
Table 8—Indices of intermediate
input by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative levels |
|
Table 9—Indices of capital
input by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative levels |
|
Table 10—Indices of land
input by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative levels |
|
Table 11—Indices of labor
input by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative levels |
| —Total Factor Productivity |
|
Table 12—Indices of total
factor productivity by State, 1960-1999, growth and relative
levels |
|
Table 13—States ranked by
level of productivity |
Data Documentation and Methods
Get details about how the data series is
constructed, and examples of its use in research.
Related Briefing Rooms
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