2021 Agricultural Symposium: The Roots of Agricultural Productivity Growth

Farmers have continued to find new ways of producing agricultural commodities. For many years, the adoption of new technologies and modernized farming practices have allowed producers across the world to generate more output with their available resources. These far-reaching gains in productivity have been crucial in satisfying the needs of a growing population. Moreover, despite concerns about slower productivity growth in other sectors of the global economy and unprecedented challenges from the pandemic of the past year, productivity in agriculture has continued to increase in many regions and across numerous commodity groups.

The 2021 Agricultural Symposium, “The Roots of Agricultural Productivity Growth” explored the key drivers of the persistent growth in agricultural productivity, linkages to other industries, and environmental considerations. The topic was originally planned for 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic. Disruptions connected to the pandemic and wide fluctuations in agricultural markets have underscored the importance of further research and discussion surrounding productivity, and the vulnerabilities of production, when assessing longer-term conditions in agriculture and related industries.

Materials

PDF2021 Agricultural Symposium Program

2021 Agricultural Symposium Videos (also available by session below)

Agricultural Symposium Research
Read the leading research on this year's topic of agricultural productivity.

Ag Symposium Snapshots
These stories dive into the topic of agricultural productivity with real-world connections.