IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/canjag/v57y2009i3p379-394.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crops and Livestock Productivity Growth in the Prairies: The Impacts of Technical Change and Scale

Author

Listed:
  • Bryce Stewart
  • Terrence Veeman
  • James Unterschultz

Abstract

This study undertakes a comprehensive analysis of productivity growth in Canadian Prairie primary agriculture from 1940 to 2004. Total factor productivity (TFP) is measured using Törnqvist‐Theil indexing procedures for the Prairie provinces (Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan). During the 1940–2004 period, productivity growth in Prairie agriculture grew at a rate of 1.56% a year. This aggregate measure does not indicate the substantial variations in productivity growth that have occurred between crops and livestock, between the provinces, and over time: productivity growth in crops is considerably higher than productivity growth in livestock; Manitoba and Saskatchewan display consistently higher productivity growth than Alberta; and from 1980 to 2004 livestock productivity growth increased considerably in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The productivity growth estimates are decomposed econometrically using a translog cost function to indicate the relative roles of technical change and scale effects. Productivity growth in crops has largely been the result of technical change while economies of scale have played a critical role in generating productivity growth in the livestock sector. La présente étude est une analyse approfondie de la croissance de la productivité du secteur de l’agriculture primaire dans les provinces des Prairies (Alberta, Manitoba et Saskatchewan), de 1940 à 2004. Nous avons mesuré la productivité totale des facteurs (PTF) à l’aide de l’indice Törnqvist‐Theil. De 1940 à 2004, la productivité de l’agriculture dans les provinces des Prairies a cru au rythme annuel de 1,56 p. 100. Cette mesure globale n’indique pas les variations substantielles de la croissance de la productivité entre le secteur des cultures et le secteur de l’élevage, entre les provinces, et au fil du temps. La croissance de la productivité dans le secteur des cultures a été considérablement plus élevée que celle observée dans le secteur de l’élevage. La croissance de la productivité au Manitoba et en Saskatchewan a été supérieure à celle observée en Alberta. De 1980 à 2004, la croissance de la productivité du secteur de l’élevage a enregistré une hausse considérable au Manitoba et en Saskatchewan. Nous avons décomposé la croissance de la productivité de façon économétrique à l’aide d’une fonction de coût de type translog afin de faire ressortir le rôle des changements technologiques et des économies d’échelle. Les changements technologiques ont joué un rôle important dans la croissance de la productivité du secteur des cultures, tandis que les économies d’échelle ont joué un rôle primordial dans la croissance de la productivité du secteur de l’élevage.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:canjag:v:57:y:2009:i:3:p:379-394
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7976.2009.01157.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7976.2009.01157.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1744-7976.2009.01157.x?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. Charles R. Hulten & Edwin R. Dean & Michael J. Harper, 2001. "New Developments in Productivity Analysis," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number hult01-1.
    2. V. Eldon Ball & Jean-Christophe Bureau & Richard Nehring & Agapi Somwaru, 1997. "Agricultural Productivity Revisited," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(4), pages 1045-1063.
    3. Laurits R. Christensen, 1975. "Concepts and Measurement of Agricultural Productivity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 57(5), pages 910-915.
    4. Capalbo, Susan Marie, 1988. "Measuring The Components Of Aggregate Productivity Growth In U.S. Agriculture," Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, July.
    5. John Mullen, 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 359-384, December.
    6. Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Warner, Andrew M., 2001. "The curse of natural resources," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 827-838, May.
    7. Mullen, John D., 2007. "Productivity Growth and the Returns from Public Investment in R&D in Australian Broadacre Agriculture," 2007 Conference (51st), February 13-16, 2007, Queenstown, New Zealand 9451, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    8. 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.
    9. Chambers,Robert G., 1988. "Applied Production Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521314275, September.
    10. Diewert, W. E., 1976. "Exact and superlative index numbers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 115-145, May.
    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. Edgar E. Twine & James Rude & Jim Unterschultz, 2016. "Canadian Cattle Cycles and Market Shocks," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 64(1), pages 119-146, March.
    2. Alexander Bilson Darku & Stavroula Malla & Kien C. Tran, 2016. "Sources and Measurement of Agricultural Productivity and Efficiency in Canadian Provinces: Crops and Livestock," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 64(1), pages 49-70, March.
    3. 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.
    4. Ricardo de Avillez, 2011. "A Half-Century of Productivity Growth and Structural Change in Canadian Agriculture: An Overview," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 22, pages 82-99, Fall.
    5. Lana Awada & Richard S. Gray & Cecil Nagy, 2016. "The Benefits and Costs of Zero Tillage RD&E on the Canadian Prairies," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 64(3), pages 417-438, September.
    6. Bishnu Saha & Rakhal Sarker & Verna Mitura, 2014. "Impact of Genetically Engineered Varieties on the Cost Structure of Corn and Soybean Production in Canada," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 62(2), pages 263-282, June.
    7. Wei Lu & Wiktor Adamowicz & Scott R. Jeffrey & Greg G. Goss & Monireh Faramarzi, 2018. "Crop Yield Response to Climate Variables on Dryland versus Irrigated Lands," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 66(2), pages 283-303, June.
    8. Wang, Xiaobing & Hockmann, Heinrich, 2012. "Technical Efficiency Under Producer’S Individual Technology: A Metafrontier Analysis," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126755, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Ricardo de Avillez, 2011. "A Detailed Analysis of the Productivity Performance of the Canadian Primary Agriculture Sector," CSLS Research Reports 2011-06, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    10. Getu Hailu, 2023. "Reflections on technological progress in the agri‐food industry: Past, present, and future," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 71(1), pages 119-141, March.
    11. Gonzalez-Corzo, Mario, 2019. "Agricultural Productivity in Cuba after a Decade of Reforms," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 0(Issue 1).
    12. Darku, Alexander B. & Malla, Stavroula, 2010. "Agricultural Productivity Growth in Canada: Concepts and Evidences," CAIRN Policy Briefs 273055, Canadian Agricultural Innovation and Regulation Network (CAIRN).

    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. Voigt, Peter, 2004. "Russlands Weg vom Plan zum Markt: Sektorale Trends und regionale Spezifika. Eine Analyse der Produktivitäts- und Effizienzentwicklungen in der Transformationsphase," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 28, number 93021.
    2. 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.
    3. Trueblood, Michael A., 1994. "An Annotated Bibliography Of Selected Productivity Literature," Staff Papers 13580, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    4. 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.
    5. Chavas, Jean-Paul, 2008. "On the economics of agricultural production," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 54(4), pages 1-16.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Giannis Karagiannis & George Mergos, 2000. "Total Factor Productivity Growth and Technical Change in a Profit Function Framework," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 31-51, July.
    10. Jaenicke, Edward C. & Drinkwater, Laurie E., 1999. "Sources Of Productivity Growth During The Transition To Alternative Cropping Systems," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 28(2), pages 1-13, October.
    11. 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.
    12. C. Thirtle & P. Bottomley, 1992. "Total Factor Productivity In Uk Agriculture, 1967‐90," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 381-400, September.
    13. 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.
    14. Ricardo de Avillez, 2011. "A Detailed Analysis of the Productivity Performance of the Canadian Primary Agriculture Sector," CSLS Research Reports 2011-06, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    15. 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).
    16. Wittwer, Glyn & Banerjee, Onil, 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), April.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Keith Fuglie, 2010. "Sources of growth in Indonesian agriculture," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 225-240, June.
    20. 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).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bla:canjag:v:57:y:2009:i:3:p:379-394. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/caefmea.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.