No abstract

Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.

A national sample of U.S. farms is used to estimate the long-term trends in adoption and diffusion of conservation tillage, IPM, and soil fertilizer testing, technologies designed to reduce environmental externalities from agriculture. Results from a duration model show that diffusion of these technologies has been relatively slow, with long lags in adoption due to differences in land quality, farm size, farmer education, and regional factors.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.

This chapter makes an effort to derive estimates of agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth by country, region and for the world as a whole for the period 1961-2009. To estimate TFP, a consistent growth accounting framework based primarily on FAO input and output data is used, drawing upon country-level case studies for estimates of input cost shares needed for aggregating inputs into a total. The results show accelerating productivity for the world as a whole over time, mostly resulting from improved productivity performance in developing countries. There is wide variation among countries, however. To help explain these differences, the correlation between country-level indexes of 'technology capital' and their long-run agricultural TFP growth rates are examined. Evidence is found that national capacities in agricultural and industrial research are significantly correlated with agricultural TFP growth. National capacities in agricultural extension and farmer schooling are also important, but, at the margin, seem to be less essential than research capacity in releasing constraints to productivity.

A simultaneous equations, or "switching-regression," model is developed to assess the impact of soil nitrogen (N) testing on N fertilizer use, crop yields, and net returns in corn growing areas of Nebraska. The results indicate that when there is uncertainty about the quantity of available "carry-over" N, N testing enables farmers to reduce fertilizer use without affecting crop yields. However, the value of information from N tests depends critically on cropping history and soil characteristics. These findings have implications for environmental and technology transfer policies designed to reduce nonpoint source water pollution.

No abstract