World agriculture has undergone significant transformation over the past six decades. Over this period, most regions of the world transitioned from a natural resource-dependent to a productivity-led growth path, made possible by the development and adoption of new technologies and farming practices.
A USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) report by Keith Fuglie, Stephen Morgan, and Jeremy Jelliffe documents those changes, providing insights into shifting patterns of agricultural production and resource use world-wide. It also shows the evolution of agricultural growth over time and discusses the implications of these dynamics for sustainable use of natural resources and global food security.
As the global population tripled during the 20th century, agricultural production grew even faster. Since the 1960’s, developments such as these have helped production, resource use, and productivity rise to the challenge of meeting the world’s demand for food and fiber.
Over the past 60 years (1961–2020), world production of crop, livestock, and aquaculture commodities grew fourfold, from a gross value of $1.1 trillion to $4.3 trillion dollars (at constant 2015 commodity prices).
Image published by Amberwaves here
Source: USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS)
Fuglie, K., Morgan, S., & Jelliffe, J. (2024). World agricultural production, resource use, and productivity, 1961–2020 (Report No. EIB-268). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. https://doi.org/10.32747/2024.8327789.ers
Entire Report
Report summary
On Amberwaves
Image: Credit PublicDomainImages from Pixabay
Discover more from Potato News Today
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
