Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Agricultural productivity
Summary
Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of agricultural outputs to inputs. While individual products are usually measured by weight, which is known as crop yield, varying products make measuring overall agricultural output difficult. Therefore, agricultural productivity is usually measured as the market value of the final output. This productivity can be compared to many different types of inputs such as labour or land. Such comparisons are called partial measures of productivity.
Agricultural productivity may also be measured by what is termed total factor productivity (TFP). This method of calculating agricultural productivity compares an index of agricultural inputs to an index of outputs. This measure of agricultural productivity was established to remedy the shortcomings of the partial measures of productivity; notably that it is often hard to identify the factors cause them to change. Changes in TFP are usually attributed to technological improvements.
Agricultural productivity is an important component of food security. Increasing agricultural productivity through sustainable practices can be an important way to decrease the amount of land needed for farming and slow environmental degradation and climate change through processes like deforestation.
Productivity is driven by changes in either agricultural technique or improvements in technology. Some sources of changes in agricultural productivity have included:
Mechanization
High yield varieties, which were the basis of the Green revolution
Fertilizers: Primary plant nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and secondary nutrients such as sulfur, zinc, copper, manganese, calcium, magnesium and molybdenum on deficient soil
Education in management and entrepreneurial techniques to decrease fixed and variable costs and optimise manpower
Liming of acid soils to raise pH and to provide calcium and magnesium
Irrigation
Herbicides
Genetic engineering
Pesticides
Increased plant density
Animal feed made more digestible by processing
Keeping animals indoors in cold weather
See: Productivity improving technologies (historical) Section: 2.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related courses (4)
AR-202(q): Studio BA4 (Assemble)
We will work with local stakeholders in the British town of Bridport to design housing responding to local needs not met by the traditional market. We will focus on how to make this housing characterf
AR-201(q): Studio BA3 (Assemble)
We will work with local stakeholders in the British town of Bridport to design housing responding to local needs not met by the traditional market. We will focus on how to make this housing characterf
PENS-225: Rhonescape
RHONEscape aims at realizing the necessary interdisciplinary educational background of the problematics affecting highly-corrected large rivers, by examining riverine ecological, hydrological and morp
Related publications (46)
Related people (10)
Related concepts (20)
Food security
Food security is the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations Committee on World Food Security, food security is defined as meaning that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem services. There are many methods to increase the sustainability of agriculture. When developing agriculture within sustainable food systems, it is important to develop flexible business process and farming practices.
Land degradation
Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Natural hazards are excluded as a cause; however human activities can indirectly affect phenomena such as floods and bush fires. Expert projections suggest that land degradation will be an important theme of the 21st century, impacting agricultural productivity, biodiversity loss, environmental change, and its effects on food security.