Production and productivity developments in South Africa have regional consequences: South Africa’s agricultural economy accounted for 43.1% of the agricultural GDP of southern Africa in 2009. Here we present and discuss newly constructed long-run data on agricultural input and output...

This is a prepublication version of J.M. Beddow, T.M. Hurley, P.G. Pardey, and J.M. Alston’s “Food Security: Yield Gap” chapter in N. Van Alfen, editor-in-chief, Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems, Vol. 3, San Diego: Elsevier, 2014, pp. 352-365.

Some studies have reported a slowdown in U.S. farm productivity growth, but the prevalent view among economists is to reject or downplay the slowdown hypothesis, implying that the rates of productivity growth experienced over the past half century can be projected forward. We set out to resolve...

Executive Summary: HarvestChoice provides data, information and tools to support strategic investment decisions in agriculture. Most agricultural processes are strongly influenced by biotic stressors, such as insects and pathogens. However, available pest information has been lacking, for...

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 paper we review past and present...

Commissioned by the CGIAR Science Council and prepared as a Background Paper for the 2008 World Development Report of the World Bank.