Impacts of R&D Funding and Climate Change on Agricultural Output Within the U.S.

In recent years, record amounts of natural disasters have occurred, decreasing profitability of farming operations and jeopardizing sufficiency of international food supplies. We believe climate change to be at the forefront of these issues. With rapid changes in climate occurring, one would expect public sector research and development funding to increase, in attempt to develop new technologies that could compensate for productivity losses. The research examines the relationship between public research and development funding and aggregate agricultural output in the United States. Through extensive data analysis, this study has found that research and development funding has a positive relationship with aggregate output, whereas climate change indicators have a negative relationship with aggregate agricultural output. Regressions were designed to explain aggregate agricultural output as a function of climate change indicators, public sector research and development funding, fertilizer use, agricultural total factor productivity, labor inputs, and more. With uncertainty ahead in global food supply, increasing population, and changing environment, the findings of this study stress the importance of increased investment in agriculture within the United States and throughout the world