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Recent study shows the ag industry is behind in meeting productivity

The associate director for CALS Global at Virginia Tech University says ag productivity isn’t on track to meet rising global demand.

Jessica Agnew says results from the 2024 Global Agricultural Productivity report shows growth falling below 1% per year.

“Total factor productivity growth, which really measures the efficiency by which we’re producing our agricultural output, decreased 2.7%,” she says. “We really need to be growing the annual total factor productivity growth by 2% annually.”

She tells Brownfield there are risks to not improving performance.

“Productivity directly impacts that bottom line for producers,” she says. “How efficiently we produce agricultural outputs directly impacts our resource conservation and has implications for biodiversity as well.”

Agnew says the report offers recommendations for how to increase productivity.

“How are we getting the research that we’re developing through public R&D processes off the shelf and into the fields? How is extension connected to government priorities? How is private sector connected to the public sector? We’re really trying to put forward that we need to think of this as a systems approach.”

She says implementing innovative financing solutions that will help derisk the productivity transition for producers.

To view the full report, click here.

AUDIO: Jessica Agnew, Virginia Tech