Abstract
Recent trends in farm productivity and food prices raise concerns about whether the era of global agricultural abundance is over. Agricultural R&D is a crucial determinant of agricultural productivity and production, and therefore food prices and poverty. In this article, we present entirely new evidence on investments in public agricultural R&D worldwide as an indicator of the prospects for agricultural productivity growth over the coming decades. The agricultural R&D world is changing, and in ways that will definitely affect future global patterns of poverty, hunger, and other outcomes. The overall picture is one in which the middle-income countries are growing in relative importance as producers of agricultural innovations through investments in R&D, and have consequently better prospects as producers of agricultural products.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 103-113 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Agricultural Economics (United Kingdom) |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | SUPPL1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 1 2013 |
Keywords
- Africa
- Brazil
- China
- Innovation
- Long-term trends
- Public research spending
- Technical change
- United States