Economic Returns to Public Agricultural Research

by Keith Fuglie and Paul Heisey

Over the last several decades, the U.S. agricultural sector has sustained impressive productivity growth. The Nation's agricultural research system, including Federal-State public research as well as private-sector research, has been a key driver of this growth. Economic analysis finds strong and consistent evidence that investment in agricultural research has yielded high returns per dollar spent. These returns include benefits not only to the farm sector but also to the food industry and consumers in the form of more abundant commodities at lower prices.

Keywords: Agriculture, productivity, productivity growth, technology, total factor productivity, TFP, research investments, food, input, output, crop yield, agricultural research, agricultural output, public spending, private sector research

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