IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/aareaj/118518.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Productivity growth and the returns from public investment in R&D in Australian broadacre agriculture

Author

Listed:
  • Mullen, John D.

Abstract

Investment in R&D has long been regarded as an important source of productivity growth in Australian agriculture. Perhaps because research lags are long, current investment in R&D is monitored closely. Investment in R&D has been flat while productivity growth has remained strong, relative both to other sectors of the Australian economy and to the agricultural sectors of other countries. Such productivity growth, at a time when the decline in terms of trade facing Australian farmers has slowed, may have enhanced the competitiveness of Australian agriculture. The econometric results presented here suggest no evidence of a decline in the returns from research from the 15 to 40 per cent per annum range estimated by Mullen and Cox. In fact the marginal impact of research increases with research over the range of investment levels experienced from 1953 to 2000, a finding which lends support to the view that there is underinvestment in agricultural research. These results were obtained from econometric models which maintain strong assumptions about how investments in research and extension translate into changes in TFP. Hence some caution in interpreting the results is warranted.

Suggested Citation

  • Mullen, John D., 2007. "Productivity growth and the returns from public investment in R&D in Australian broadacre agriculture," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 51(4), pages 1-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aareaj:118518
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.118518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/118518/files/j.1467-8489.2007.00392.x.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.118518?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dean Parham, 2004. "Sources of Australia's Productivity Revival," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 80(249), pages 239-257, June.
    2. Cox, Thomas L. & Mullen, John D. & Hu, Wensheng, 1997. "Nonparametric measures of the impact of public research expenditures on Australian broadacre agriculture," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 41(3), pages 1-28.
    3. Scobie, Grant M. & Mullen, John D. & Alston, Julian M., 1991. "The Returns To Investment In Research On Australian Wool Production," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 35(2), pages 1-17, August.
    4. John D. Mullen & Thomas L. Cox, 1996. "Measuring Productivity Growth In Australian Broadacre Agriculture," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 40(3), pages 189-210, December.
    5. Mullen, J. D., 2002. "Farm Management In The 21st Century," 2002 Conference (46th), February 13-15, 2002, Canberra, Australia 174072, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    6. Mullen, John D. & Scobie, Grant M. & Crean, Jason, 2006. "Trends in Research, Productivity Growth and Competitiveness in Agriculture in New Zealand and Australia," 2006 Conference, August 24-25, 2006, Nelson, New Zealand 31965, New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    7. Christopher O’Donnell & Robert Chambers & John Quiggin, 2010. "Efficiency analysis in the presence of uncertainty," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 1-17, February.
    8. Tim J. Coelli & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2005. "Total factor productivity growth in agriculture: a Malmquist index analysis of 93 countries, 1980–2000," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 115-134, January.
    9. Mullen, John D. & Cox, Thomas L., 1995. "The Returns From Research In Australian Broadacre Agriculture," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 39(2), pages 1-24, August.
    10. Denis Lawrence & Lloyd McKay, 1980. "Inputs, Outputs And Productivity Change In The Australian Sheep Industry," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 24(1), pages 46-59, April.
    11. Albert K. A. Acquaye & Julian M. Alston & Philip G. Pardey, 2003. "Post-War Productivity Patterns in U.S. Agriculture: Influences of Aggregation Procedures in a State-Level Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(1), pages 59-80.
    12. Mullen, John D. & Cox, Thomas L., 1996. "Measuring Productivity Growth In Australian Broadacre Agriculture," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 40(3), pages 1-22, December.
    13. Bernard, Andrew B & Jones, Charles I, 1996. "Productivity across Industries and Countries: Time Series Theory and Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 135-146, February.
    14. Unknown, 2005. "Trends in Australian Agriculture," Commission Research Papers 31903, Productivity Commission.
    15. V. Eldon Ball & Frank M. Gollop & Alison Kelly-Hawke & Gregory P. Swinand, 1999. "Patterns of State Productivity Growth in the U.S. Farm Sector: Linking State and Aggregate Models," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(1), pages 164-179.
    16. Lawrence, Denis & McKay, Lloyd, 1980. "Inputs, Outputs And Productivity Change In The Australian Sheep Industry," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 24(1), pages 1-14, April.
    17. Shane, Mathew & Roe, Terry L. & Gopinath, Munisamy, 1998. "U.S. Agricultural Growth and Productivity: An Economywide Perspective," Agricultural Economic Reports 34047, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    18. Productivity Commission, 2005. "Trends in Australian Agriculture," Research Papers 0502, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia.
    19. Mullen, J.D., 2002. "Farm Management In The 21st Century," Australasian Agribusiness Review, University of Melbourne, Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, vol. 10, pages 1-18, September.
    20. Howard Doran, 1993. "Testing Nonnested Models," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(1), pages 95-103.
    21. John D. Mullen & Thomas L. Cox, 1995. "The Returns From Research In Australian Broadacre Agriculture," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 39(2), pages 105-128, August.
    22. Pannell, David J., 1999. "On the balance between strategic-basic and applied agricultural research," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 43(1), pages 1-23, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sheng, Yu & Zhao, Shiji & Nossal, Katarina & Zhang, Dandan, 2015. "Productivity and farm size in Australian agriculture: reinvestigating the returns to scale," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 59(1), January.
    2. Rajabrata Banerjee & Martin Shanahan, 2016. "The Contribution of Wheat to Australian Agriculture from 1861 to 1939," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(2), pages 125-150, July.
    3. Sanderson, Todd & Ahmadi-Esfahani, Fredoun Z., 2010. "Climate change and Australia’s comparative advantage in broadacre agriculture," 2010 Conference, August 26-27, 2010, Nelson, New Zealand 96493, New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    4. Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, J.-M. & Gharsi, O. & Martinez-Gomez, V. & Roig-Tierno, N., 2018. "Determinant Factors of High Performing Agricultural Regions," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277456, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Islam, Nazrul & Xayavong, Vilaphonh & Kingwell, Ross, 2014. "Broadacre farm productivity and profitability in south-western Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 58(2), April.
    6. Nisrane, Fantu & Berhane, Guush & Asrat, Sinafikeh & Getachew, Gerawork & Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum & Hoddinott, John F., 2011. "Sources of inefficiency and growth in agricultural output in subsistence agriculture: A stochastic frontier analysis," ESSP working papers 19, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Will Chancellor & Shiji Zhao, 2021. "Agricultural Households: An Exploratory Analysis Revisiting Financial Position and Well‐being in Australia," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 40(1), pages 14-30, March.
    8. Nasir nadeem, Dr. & khalid Mushtaq, Dr., 2010. "Role of Agricultural Research and Extension in Enhancing Agricultural Productivity in Punjab, Pakistan," MPRA Paper 27769, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Griffith, G.R. & Pollock, K.S. & Burrow, H.M., 2013. "How Did We Go? Revisiting the Ex Ante Economic Impact Assessment of the CRC for Beef Genetic Technologies, as at the Cessation of Funding," Australasian Agribusiness Review, University of Melbourne, Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, vol. 21, pages 1-18.
    10. Bryce Stewart & Terrence Veeman & James Unterschultz, 2009. "Crops and Livestock Productivity Growth in the Prairies: The Impacts of Technical Change and Scale," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 57(3), pages 379-394, September.
    11. Essossinam Ali & Nimonka Bayale, 2024. "Impact of Public Agricultural Investment on Crops Production, Households’ Welfare, and Employment Generation Opportunities in Togo, West Africa," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(1), pages 161-193, February.
    12. Jean-Paul Chavas, 2008. "On the economics of agricultural production ," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 52(4), pages 365-380, December.
    13. Ollerenshaw, Alison & Murphy, Angela & Walters, Judi & Robinson, Nathan & Thompson, Helen, 2023. "Use of digital technology for research data and information transfer within the Australian grains sector: A case study using Online Farm Trials," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    14. Michee Arnold Lachaud & Boris E. Bravo-Ureta & Carlos E. Ludena, 2017. "Agricultural productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean in the presence of unobserved heterogeneity and climatic effects," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 445-460, August.
    15. Sabasi, Darlington & Shumway, C. Richard, 2014. "Technical Change, Efficiency, and Total Factor Productivity in U.S. Agriculture," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170225, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Ada Ignaciuk & Daniel Mason-D'Croz, 2014. "Modelling Adaptation to Climate Change in Agriculture," OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 70, OECD Publishing.
    17. Glyn Wittwer & Robert Waschik, 2021. "Estimating the economic impacts of the 2017–2019 drought and 2019–2020 bushfires on regional NSW and the rest of Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 65(4), pages 918-936, October.
    18. Glyn Wittwer & Onil Banerjee, 2015. "Investing in irrigation development in North West Queensland, Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 59(2), pages 189-207, April.
    19. Tozer, Peter R. & Villano, Renato, 2013. "Decomposing Productivity and Efficiency among Western Australian Grain Producers," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 38(3), pages 1-15.
    20. David Colman, 2010. "Agriculture's terms of trade: issues and implications," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(s1), pages 1-15, November.
    21. Todd Sanderson & Fredoun Z. Ahmadi‐Esfahani, 2009. "Testing Comparative Advantage in Australian Broadacre Agriculture Under Climate Change: Theoretical and Empirical Models," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 28(4), pages 346-354, December.
    22. Giesecke, James A. & Tran, Hoang Nhi, 2009. "Modelling Value-Added Tax in The Presence of Multiproduction and Differentiated Exemptions," Conference papers 331894, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mullen, John D. & Scobie, Grant M. & Crean, Jason, 2006. "Trends in Research, Productivity Growth and Competitiveness in Agriculture in New Zealand and Australia," 2006 Conference, August 24-25, 2006, Nelson, New Zealand 31965, New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    2. Mullen, J. D., 2002. "Farm Management In The 21st Century," 2002 Conference (46th), February 13-15, 2002, Canberra, Australia 174072, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    3. Mullen, J.D., 2002. "Farm Management In The 21st Century," Australasian Agribusiness Review, University of Melbourne, Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, vol. 10, pages 1-18, September.
    4. Kevin J. Fox & Yu Sheng & Tom Jackson & Shiji Zhao & Dandan Zhang, 2017. "Measuring Output, Input and Total Factor Productivity in Australian Agriculture: An Industry-Level Analysis," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63, pages 169-193, February.
    5. Mullen, John & Keogh, Mick, 2013. "The Future Productivity and Competitiveness Challenge for Australian Agriculture," 2013 Conference (57th), February 5-8, 2013, Sydney, Australia 152170, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    6. Villano, Renato A. & Fleming, Euan M. & Farrell, Terence C. & Fleming, Pauline, 2006. "Productivity Change in the Australian Sheep Industry Revisited," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25593, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Ruhul A. Salim & Nazrul Islam, 2010. "Exploring the impact of R&D and climate change on agricultural productivity growth: the case of Western Australia ," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 54(4), pages 561-582, October.
    8. Griffith, Garry R. & Parnell, Peter F. & McKiernan, William A., 2005. "The Economic, Environmental and Social Benefits to NSW from Investment in the CRC for Beef Genetics Technologies," Research Reports 42654, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Research Economists.
    9. Mullen, John D. & Cox, Thomas L., 1996. "Measuring Productivity Growth In Australian Broadacre Agriculture," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 40(3), pages 1-22, December.
    10. Thomas COX & John MULLEN & Wensheng HU, 1996. "Nonparametric Measures Of The Impacts Of Public Research Expenditures On Australian Broadacre Agriculture: Preliminary Results," Staff Papers 399, University of Wisconsin Madison, AAE.
    11. Griffith, Garry R., 2009. "Estimating the economic impact of a major beef industry research and development investment," Australasian Agribusiness Review, University of Melbourne, Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, vol. 17, pages 1-24.
    12. Kingwell, Ross S., 2006. "Climate change in Australia: agricultural impacts and adaptation," Australasian Agribusiness Review, University of Melbourne, Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, vol. 14.
    13. THOMAS COX & John Mullen & Wensheng Hu, 1996. "Nonparametric Measures of the Impacts of Public Research Expenditures on Australian Broadacre Agriculture: Preliminary Results," Wisconsin-Madison Agricultural and Applied Economics Staff Papers 399, Wisconsin-Madison Agricultural and Applied Economics Department.
    14. Vere, David T. & Griffith, Garry R. & Silvester, Luke T., 2005. "Australian Sheep Industry CRC: Economic Evaluations of Scientific Research Programs," Research Reports 42651, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Research Economists.
    15. Kingwell, Ross S., 2006. "Is Hanrahan sort of right? Will climate change ruin us all?," 2006 Conference (50th), February 8-10, 2006, Sydney, Australia 137961, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    16. Zhao, Xueyan & Griffith, Garry R. & Mullen, John D., 2000. "Returns to New Technologies in the Australian Beef Industry: On-farm Research versus Off-farm Research," 2000 Conference (44th), January 23-25, 2000, Sydney, Australia 123749, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    17. Jayasuriya, Rohan T., 2003. "Economic assessment of technological change and land degradation in agriculture: application to the Sri Lanka tea sector," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 405-423, December.
    18. X. Zhao & J.D. Mullen & G.R. Griffith & R.R. Piggott & W.E. Griffiths, 2002. "The Economic Incidence of R&D and Promotion Investments in the Australian Beef Industry," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 16/02, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
    19. Zhao, Xueyan & Mullen, John D. & Griffith, Garry R. & Griffiths, William E. & Piggott, Roley R., 2000. "An Equilibrium Displacement Model of the Australian Beef Industry," Research Reports 28007, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Research Economists.
    20. Mounter, Stuart W. & Griffith, Garry R. & Piggott, Roley R. & Mullen, John D., 2005. "The Relative Payoffs From R&D and Generic Advertising Expenditure by the Australian Pig Industry," Working Papers 12943, University of New England, School of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aareaj:118518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaresea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.