Sun Ling Wang

Research Investments and Market Structure in the Food Processing, Agricultural Input, and Biofuel Industries Worldwide

Meeting growing global demand for food, fiber, and biofuel requires robust investment in agricultural research and development (R&D) from both public and private sectors. This study examines global R&D spending by private industry in seven agricultural input sectors, food manufacturing, and biofuel and describes the changing structure of these industries. In 2007 (the latest year for which comprehensive estimates are available), the private sector spent

New Evidence Points to Robust but Uneven Productivity Growth in Global Agriculture

19.7 billion on food and agricultural research (56 percent in food manufacturing and 44 percent in agricultural input sectors) and accounted for about half of total public and private spending on food and agricultural R&D in high-income countries. In R&D related to biofuel, annual private-sector investments are estimated to have reached

Is U.S. Agricultural Productivity Growth Slowing

1.47 billion worldwide by 2009. Incentives to invest in R&D are influenced by market structure and other factors. Agricultural input industries have undergone significant structural change over the past two decades, with industry concentration on the rise. A relatively small number of large, multinational firms with global R&D and marketing networks account for most R&D in each input industry. Rising market concentration has not generally been associated with increased R&D investment as a percentage of industry sales.

Public R&D, Private R&D, and U.S. Agricultural Productivity Growth: Dynamic and Long-Run Relationships

This article is drawn from Productivity Growth in Agriculture: An International Perspective, edited by Fuglie, Wang, and Ball. It is a review of agricultural productivity around the world, with an analysis of prices, population, and productivity over the past 50 years. In developing and transition countries, agricultural productivity growth has been found to be strong over the past 10 years. Developed countries have also experienced robust agricultural total factor productivity growth, though it is now slowing in many countries.