U.S. farm inputs continued to shift from labor and land to capital, material, and purchased inputs during 1948 to 2023

U.S. farm output—the total amount of livestock, crops, and other farm-related output produced in a year—nearly tripled between 1948 and 2023, while the mix of inputs used in production has shifted. During this 75-year period, the total amount of inputs used in U.S. farm production increased only slightly, rising at an average rate of 0.12 percent annually. This modest increase reflects a continued shift away from labor and land and toward capital and intermediate inputs. Over the period, the amount of farm labor used in agricultural production fell by 73 percent, and land use declined by 28 percent. Meanwhile, the use of intermediate inputs—such as fertilizer, pesticides, energy, feed, and purchased services—grew by 144 percent, and the use of capital inputs, including machinery and farm structures, increased by 106 percent. Technological advances have made machinery and agricultural chemicals more affordable and effective, enabling farmers to increase their use of these inputs while using less labor and land. More importantly, the net increase in the use of inputs (0.12 percentage points per year) has been greatly exceeded by the increase in agricultural output (1.52 percentage points per year). The “total factor productivity” remainder of 1.4 percentage points per year remains the primary driver of growth in U.S. agricultural output. This chart is based on data from the Agricultural Productivity in the United States data product, updated in July 2026.