--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-30/productivity-growth-in-u-s-agriculture-1948-2013/" title: "Productivity Growth in U.S. Agriculture: 1948-2013" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T07:40:50+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T07:40:50+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2016" ipm_keyword: - "1948-2013" - "agriculture" - "capital input" - "intermediate inputs" - "labour quality" - "output growth" - "TFP" - "translog" - "United States" - "USDA" ipm_research_theme: - "Sectoral and firm-level dynamics" ipm_country_focus: - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Productivity Growth in U.S. Agriculture: 1948-2013 Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-30/productivity-growth-in-u-s-agriculture-1948-2013/ # Productivity Growth in U.S. Agriculture: 1948-2013 [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-30-4-Ball-Nehring-Wang.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Ball, Eldon, Richard Nehring, and Sun Ling Wang. 2016. “Productivity Growth in U.S. Agriculture: 1948-2013.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 30 (Spring 2016): 64–76. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-30/productivity-growth-in-u-s-agriculture-1948-2013/ ## Authors: - Eldon Ball U.S. Department of Agriculture - Richard Nehring U.S. Department of Agriculture (Economic Research Service) - Sun Ling Wang U.S. Department of Agriculture (Economic Research Service) ## IPM Issue 30 Spring 2016 pp. 64–76 ## Related IPM articles [Efficiency Adjustment of Hours Worked: Two Possible Modifications of a Jorgensen Production Model Barbara Fraumeni Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 103–115](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/efficiency-adjustment-of-hours-worked-two-possible-modifications-of-a-jorgensen-production-model/) [The Relationship between Efficiencies Defenses for Mergers and TFP Growth Robin Shaban Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 82–102](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/the-relationship-between-efficiencies-defenses-for-mergers-and-tfp-growth/) [Labour Productivity as a Measure of Technological Change Ulrich Kohli Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 64–81](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/labour-productivity-as-a-measure-of-technological-change/) [IPM Issue 49 Editors’ Overview Andrew Sharpe, Bart van Ark, Paul Schreyer Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 1–2](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/) [De-industrialization and the Great Productivity Slowdown: What Comes Next? 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Bart van Ark, Klaas de Vries, Abdul Erumban Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 38–59](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/are-intangibles-running-out-of-steam/) [Cracking the Productivity Code: An International Comparison of UK Productivity John Van Reenen, Xuyi Yang Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 60–82](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/cracking-the-productivity-code-an-international-comparison-of-uk-productivity/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn It is widely reported that productivity growth is the main contributor to output growth in U.S. agriculture. This article provides estimates of output growth over the postwar period and decomposes that growth into the contributions of input growth and productivity growth. The analysis is based on recently revised production accounts for agriculture. Our findings are fully consistent with those reported in the literature. Productivity growth dominates input growth as a source of output growth in the sector. THE RISE IN AGRICULTURAL productivity has long been chronicled as the single Il est largement rapporté que la croissance de la productivité est le principal contributeur à la croissance de la production dans l’agriculture américaine. Cet article fournit des estimations de la croissance de la production sur la période d’après-guerre et décompose cette croissance en contributions de la croissance des intrants et de la croissance de la productivité. L’analyse est fondée sur des comptes de production récemment révisés pour l’agriculture. Nos conclusions sont entièrement cohérentes avec celles rapportées dans la littérature. La croissance de la productivité domine la croissance des intrants comme source de croissance de la production dans le secteur. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-30-4-Ball-Nehring-Wang.pdf)