USDA: Farm productivity rose 1.42 percent per year
Farmers’ productivity increased 1.42 percent a year from 1948 to 2011, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported. Those productivity gains were achieved at least in part, however, at the expense of largely uncalculated nutrient-pollution costs passed on by farmers to the general public, according to agricultural economists and environmental advocates. USDA researchers found that agricultural output nationwide since 1948 grew at 1.49 percent per year with nominal growth in total input use.
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