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

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  • 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
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    Cited by:

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    8. 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.
    9. Ada Ignaciuk & Daniel Mason-D'Croz, 2014. "Modelling Adaptation to Climate Change in Agriculture," OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 70, OECD Publishing.
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    11. 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.
    12. Wittwer, Glyn & Waschik, Robert, 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(04), January.
    13. Nazrul Islam & Vilaphonh Xayavong & Ross Kingwell, 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), pages 147-170, April.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. 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).
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.
    21. Jonathan Mendonça dos Santos & Ricardo Francischini & Veridiana Cardozo Gonçalves Cantão & Raquel de Sousa Neta & Charles Barbosa Santos & Rose Luiza Moraes Tavares & Kamila Lobato Moraes & Jordana, 2024. "Economic Feasibility of Management of Fertilization in the Soybean-Corn System Cultivated in Succession," Journal of Agricultural Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(2), pages 1-71, April.
    22. 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.
    23. 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.

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