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Resources for agricultural science are scarce across the world. Yet even as resources are shrinking, agricultural science has expanded its inquiry into many new areas - such as environmental preservation, food quality, and rural development - without forsaking its more traditional concerns. In a time of tight government budgets, research administrators are faced with the need to provide strong evidence that costs are justified by benefits. Science under Scarcity is an invaluable guide to the theory and methods necessary for evaluating research in agriculture and for setting priorities for resource allocation. Although economists have made significant progress in developing more sophisticated methods for research evaluation and priority setting, many research analysts and administrators do not have a working knowledge of those practices. Without the assistance of formal economic analysis it is particularly difficult to assess the social value of new technologies or to make informed judgements about the trade-offs that are involved in allocation decisions. Addressing that knowledge gap, this book reviews, synthesizes, and extends such methods as economic surplus analysis, econometric techniques, mathematical programming procedures, and scoring models. It discusses these practices in the context of scientific policy, describes their conceptual foundations, and explains how to do them. Originally published in 1995 in hardcover by Cornell University Press, it is now reissued in paperback by CAB INTERNATIONAL.
Agricultural Productivity: Measurement and Sources of Growth addresses measurement issues and techniques in agricultural productivity analysis, applying those techniques to recently published data sets for American agriculture. The data sets are used to estimate and explain state level productivity and efficiency differences, and to test different approaches to productivity measurement. The rise in agricultural productivity is the single most important source of economic growth in the U.S. farm sector, and the rate of productivity growth is estimated to be higher in agriculture than in the non-farm sector. It is important to understand productivity sources and to measure its growth properly, including the effects of environmental externalities. Both the methods and the data can be accessed by economists at the state level to conduct analyses for their own states. In a sense, although not explicitly, the book provides a guide to using the productivity data available on the website of the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Economic Research Service. It should be of interest to a broad spectrum of professionals in academia, the government, and the private sector.
This sourcebook provides a synthesis of literature and experience that introduces monitoring and evaluation (M&E) principles, processes and methods, presents examples of M&E, and identifies useful sources of expertise and information. Applications to agricultural research from both industrialized and developing countries are presented. The book will be an indispensable guide and reference for agricultural research managers, as well as development workers and trainers involved in agricultural research management.
Resource Allocation and Productivity in National and International Agricultural Research was first published in 1977.Agricultural research in developing countries has grown rapidly in recent years. As the research system has expanded, questions about the productivity of research and the allocation of research resources have become important issues for development planners, science managers, donor agencies, and other individuals and institutions concerned with research operations and opportunities.In this volume, forty contributors - natural and social scientists and research administrators - provide a comprehensive analysis of the implications of agricultural science and technology for agricultural development. They examine recent evidence on the returns to investment in national and international agricultural research systems and explore the relevance of social and economic factors for the organization and management of these systems. In a final section they discuss research strategy and management issues that will affect the future productivity and organization of both the international and the national research systems.The material is based on papers given at a conference held at Airlie House, Virginia, sponsored by the Agricultural Development Council. Funding was provided through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), support of the Council's Research Training and Network Program, and by additional assistance from the World Bank.
This report is a congressionally mandated review of the US Department of Agriculture's Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area, the main engine of publicly funded agricultural research in the United States. A changing social and scientific context of agriculture requires a new vision of agricultural research-one that will support agriculture as a positive economic, social, and environmental force. REE is uniquely positioned to advance new research frontiers in environment, public health, and rural communities. The report recommends that REE be more anticipatory and strategic in its use of limited resources and guide and champion new directions in research.