Globally, the agriculture industry has enjoyed increasing productivity over the past several decades. Technological advances, such as varieties of crops that can produce more than in the past, have helped spurred this growth.
But the rate of that growth has slowed in the past decade, according to an analysis from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A variety of reasons could be behind it, according to the USDA:
- Climate change: Extreme weather, such as drought or heavy rainfall, can decrease crop yields.
- New pests and diseases: Like climate change, these can decrease crop yields. Sometimes, a farmer needs to spend more money to prevent a pest or disease from spreading.
- Research and development: Previous USDA research has concluded that a decrease in public investment in agriculture R&D — which has happened in the U.S. — could lead to long-term declines in productivity.
To maintain higher levels of productivity, the industry will need to use more land and apply more inputs, such as fertilizer, according to the USDA. In turn, that could have greater environmental impacts, such as runoff that has contributed to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
