Fostering Productivity and Competitiveness in Agriculture
This report reviews economic concepts of innovation, research and development (R&D), productivity and competitiveness, and their linkages. It then discusses evidence on developments in productivity and competitiveness in the agricultural and food processing sectors and on the relationship between agricultural productivity and farm size, factor intensity, farm specialisation, human capital, consumer demand, the natural environment, investments in general infrastructures and R&D, regulations, and agricultural policies. It describes developments in public and private investments in agricultural R&D and outlines their positive impact on productivity growth. Finally, it suggests an “innovation systems” approach would help understand better how innovation translates into productivity growth.
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Developments in public and private research and development efforts
Expenditure on research and development (R&D) is often used as an indicator of efforts in this area. This chapter describes trends in public and private expenditures on agricultural R&D, using OECD and ASTI databases. Most expenditures on agricultural R&D are made by the public sector, but the share of private expenditures is increasing in some OECD countries. Public R&D expenditure as a percentage of agricultural GDP ranges from less than 0.3% to over 4% among OECD countries. It is also very diverse in developing countries.
Also available in: French
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