While agricultural productivity growth can enable land and water resource savings it can have unintended negative impacts on the environment, including air or water pollution or biodiversity losses. The Network works on reconciling total factor productivity with the objectives of environmental sustainability, a major challenge faced by food systems. The experts focus on measuring “agricultural productivity growth that advances social, environmental, and economic development objectives to meet the food and nutrition needs of current and future generations”.
Network on Agricultural Total Factor Productivity and the Environment
The Network on Agricultural Total Factor Productivity and the Environment (TFPN) is an OECD expert group sharing experiences and best practices for cross-country agricultural total factor productivity comparisons and for the measurement of sustainable productivity growth in agriculture. The ambition of the network is to find ways to jointly measure environmental sustainability and agricultural productivity by developing appropriate and scientifically sound indexes that measure countries’ agricultural sector performance.
Who we are
The TFPN is a network of experts who share their knowledge and experience to measure sustainable productivity growth in agriculture
Key figures
Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is the ratio between the outputs produced by agriculture and the inputs used to produced them. The growth of TFP implies producing more with less. For many decades, total agricultural production in the OECD grew at rates well above the growth of use of inputs (like land and fertiliser), with the main source of growth coming from more productive ways of combining inputs.However in the last 10 years, productivity growth has slowed down, with production continuing to increase but the use of variable inputs, such as agrochemicals, remaining at a constant level.
The reduction of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - or any other form of pollution - while maintaining the same level of inputs and outputs is a form of sustainable productivity that delivers environmental outcomes not priced by the market. For instance, while GHG emissions have increased on average in the OECD over the past 15 years, nitrogen and phosphorus balances have fallen in many countries. The TFPN network seeks to reflect these gains and losses in the measurement of the performance of the agricultural sector.
2017
Year founded
The OECD network on TFP and the Environment was launched in 2017 to develop a framework for cross-country agricultural TFP comparisons and improve the measurement of sustainable productivity.
118
Members
The TFPN bring together experts from research institutions, international organisations and government agencies from more than 20 countries.
Our activities
The 8th TFPN meeting advanced on four action tracks: using production analysis to calculate Environmentally Adjusted Total Factor Productivity (EATFP); calculating environmentally Sustainable Productivity Indexes (SPI); interpreting and communicating cross-country results to inform policy analysis; and investigating impacts of policy on productivity and policy implications. It was organised in four sections. It has been a first productive reflection on policy and communication issues surrounding sustainable productivity performance, giving a leading role to policymakers and practitioners.
This edition of the OECD TFPN meeting worked on sharing methodologies and experiences on agricultural TFP measurement with a particular emphasis on incorporating environmental issues; defining guidelines for international comparisons of productivity and sustainable productivity performance; and undertaking and promoting policy relevant analysis on sustainable productivity growth.
Leadership
Jesús Anton
Head of Productivity, Sustainability and Resilience Unit
Agriculture and Resource Policies Division. Trade and Agriculture Directorate | OECD
Agnes Szuda
Junior Policy Analyst
Agriculture and Resource Policies Division. Trade and Agriculture Directorate | OECD
Mercedes Campi
Agricultural Policy Analyst
Agriculture and Resource Policies Division. Trade and Agriculture Directorate | OECD
Helen Maguire
Assistant
Agriculture and Resource Policies Division. Trade and Agriculture Directorate | OECD
Achieving sustainable agricultural productivity growth is an imperative intersecting several current and emerging global challenges. The OECD TFPN network is an outstanding tool bringing together international experts to collaborate, refine and harmonise measurement methods while responding to policy needs.
Spiro Stefanou
Administrator. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
Upcoming events
- International Conference on “Sustainable Agricultural Productivity to Address Food Systems Challenge: Measurement, Data, Drivers and Policies”. Paris 28th October 2024.
