Source: USDA'S ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE, 6/28/18


Governments in high-income countries are spending less on agricultural research. A new report from USDA’s Economic Research Service reviews long-term trends in public agricultural research and development (R&D) investment by high-income countries and examines how these investments have contributed to economic growth.

In high-income countries (the United States, European countries, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) as a group, spending on public agricultural research (adjusted for inflation) grew rapidly after 1960. However, this growth slowed significantly in recent decades and is now declining. In these countries, public agricultural R&D spending grew from $3.9 billion in 1960 to a peak of $18.6 billion in 2009, before declining to $17.5 billion by 2013.

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