American Farmers Triple Agricultural Outputs Over 70 Years

WASHINGTON, DC – How productive are America’s farmers and ranchers? According to a report from the Economic Research Service, over the past 70 years, total agricultural outputs have nearly tripled. At an average annual rate of 1.53 percent, the increases have come directly from innovations in animal and crop genetics, chemicals, equipment, and daily operations. As the cost of feed, seed, and chemical inputs has increased by more than 130 percent, on-farm labor has declined by 76 percent. Also revealing is that today’s domestic agricultural industry uses 25 percent less land for animal and crop production but the intermediate inputs (capital and labor) have increased at an annualized rate of .5 percent per year – even though those inputs rarely contribute to growth in total output.
(SOURCE: Economic Research Service)