Over the last several decades, the U.S. agricultural sector has sustained
impressive productivity growth. The Nation’s agricultural research
system, including Federal-State public research as well as private-sector
research, has been a key driver of this growth. Economic analysis finds
strong and consistent evidence that investment in agricultural research
has yielded high returns per dollar spent. These returns include benefits
not only to the farm sector but also to the food industry and consumers in
the form of more abundant commodities at lower prices. While studies
using different methods and coverage give a range of estimates of returns
to agricultural research, there is a consensus that the payoff from the
government’s investment in agricultural research has been high.