An Analysis of Productivity growth in Western Australian Agriculture

The objective of this paper is to analyse productivity growth of Western Australian broadacre agriculture. For the period 1977/78 to 1997/98, the growth of aggregated outputs, inputs and the total factor productivity (TFP), of broadacre agriculture in WA is estimated by applying a non-parametric approach. The productivity performance of WA agriculture is compared with that of other Australian states. An attempt is made to identify the factors, which may explain productivity growth in WA agriculture. TFP growth in WA agriculture is estimated to be 4.2 percent p.a.. Compared to other Australian states, only South Australian agriculture has experienced a higher rate of productivity growth. Within WA, the wheat-sheep zone has the highest TFP growth of 4.7 percent p.a.. Among the broadly defined industry groups, the crop industry experienced the highest TFP growth of 6.6 percent p.a.. Besides the influence of seasonal conditions, the transfer and adoption of new technologies appear to have a positive impact on the TFP growth in WA agriculture