AN ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF COTTON AND PEANUT RESEARCH IN SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

INTRODUCTION

Research is a fundamental component of economic development and growth. Agricultural
research has been labeled the oldest form of research in the world. There is evidence suggesting
methodic attempts to apply scientific knowledge to improving agricultural production as early as
the eighteenth century. Around this time, the most pressing problem in developing economies
was to produce adequate amounts of food to be self-sufficient. It makes sense that individuals
began to improve agriculture in order to sustain them. Today, agricultural research is crucial in
developing and maintaining the role of developed economies in world markets as well as keeping
food prices low and stable.

Agricultural research requires scarce resources like skilled labor, capital, and other
inputs to continue to address these concerns and rise to new levels. These inputs are intended to
combine and produce some improved technology that makes agricultural production more
efficient. Agricultural research improves efficiency through developing technologies that
increase output using the same inputs or decrease the costs of production. Examples of
innovations from research in agriculture are new crop varieties, better pesticides and fertilizers,
and improved management and storage techniques that help to stabilize food prices and supply.
Technological improvements in agriculture bring about shared benefits between the producer and
consumer. Creating and increasing productivity, holding all other things constant, generates new
revenues for the producer by widening the margin between production cost and quantity
produced. An increase in productivity can then increase supply, and depress prices, affecting
producers and consumers alike.

In the United States, agricultural research has been historically funded through a heavily
legislated partnership between federal and state governments. As a result, either the United

<<   1   2   3   4   5   6   >>

More intriguing information