Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth – the efficiency with which producers combine inputs to make outputs – has driven most of the increase in agricultural production growth over the last two decades. However, ,there continues to be significant productivity gaps across farms, and improving the productivity of farms that lag behind will be a challenge, even in high-performing countries. Moreover, while productivity growth has resulted in less land being converted to farming, progress in the overall environmental performance of agriculture has been uneven across countries.  

The OECD has developed tools to assess the performance of the agriculture sector in terms of productivity, sustainability, and resilience. To broaden the understanding of these interlinkages, notably for sustainable productivity growth, two networks of experts from research and government meet on a regular basis: the Farm-Level Analysis Network and the Network on Agricultural TFP and the Environment.

Innovation is a complex interactive process linking all actors and stakeholders in the agricultural sector, from farmers, to scholars and industry. Innovation is a key driver of sector performance, along with structural changes and natural resources constraints. Yet it is estimated that only 3% of current support to the agricultural sector goes to Agricultural Knowledge and Innovations Systems (AKIS). Moreover, a range of areas of policy and regulation create the wider incentives that shape the scope and direction of agricultural innovation. These increasingly include natural resources and the environment, as well as education, skills and research; taxation; and the economy-wide policy environment. The OECD Productivity Sustainability and Resilience framework is a unique tool to provide evidence-based advice across multiple parts of government to deliver on multiple goals and improve Policies for the Future of Farming and Food .