Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

NC-1034 participants have been highly productive, with more than 140 publication this year alone. These included more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles in addition to book chapters, extension reports, or government documents this year (see publication list).

Two academic NC-1034 participants were lead coordinating authors of the report to the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) on an external review of how ERS develops and communicates agricultural productivity measures and to recommend improved methods. In addition, four other NC-1034 participants prepared written stakeholder recommendations published in the report, while two other NC-1034 members served as reviewers of earlier manuscript drafts. ERS economists responsible for ERS's productivity measurement program have been long-standing members of NC-1034.

Multiple NC-1034 participants contributed to special issues of the journal AgBioForum: The Journal of Agribiotechnology Management and Economics. These include: (a) Volume 14, Number 3, Special Issue on Sustainability and the Bioeconomy; (b) Volume 17, Number 2, Special Issue in Honor of Jimmye Hillman (on non- tariff barriers and other constraints to biotechnology adoption). Many of the articles published here were first presented at the 2013 NC-1034 research symposium in Tucson, AZ; (c) Volume 18 (forthcoming), Special Issue on Impacts of the Bioeconomy on Agricultural Sustainability the Environment and Human Health. NC-1034 members also contributed to: (a) four chapters to the edited volume Genetically Modified Food and Global Welfare (Carter, Moschini, and Sheldon), while one NC-1034 member was a co-editor; (b) four chapters to The Handbook on Agriculture, Biotechnology and Development (Smyth, Phillips, and Castle); (c) three chapters to the International workshop on socioeconomic impacts of genetically modified crops co-organized by JRC-IPTS and FAO Workshop proceedings (Lusser, et al.); (d) five chapters to Productivity Growth in Agriculture: An International Perspective (Fuglie, Wang, and Ball), while one NC-1034 member was a co- editor. Five NC-1034 members are research fellows of the International Science & Technology Practice & Policy (InSTePP) program that brings together scholars at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere to engage in economic research on science and technology practice and policy, emphasizing the international implications.

The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) is responsible for constructing the agricultural productivity accounts for US agriculture. These accounts generate the official estimates of productivity in the U.S. farm sector. They include estimates of outputs, inputs, and total factor productivity (TFP), the preferred measure of innovation according to the Advisory Committee on Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century (Schramm et al. 2008). The Advisory Committee was established by the Secretary of Commerce to recommend ways to improve the measurement of innovation in the economy. In 2014, ERS commissioned an external review committee to evaluate how ERS develops and communicates productivity measures and to recommend improved methods. Two academic NC-1034 participants were lead coordinating authors of the final review report, published in May 2015. In addition, four other NC-1034 participants prepared written stakeholder recommendations published in the report, while two other NC-1034 members served as reviewers of earlier manuscript drafts. The report acknowledged "The USDA Economic Research Service has emerged as an acknowledged intellectual leader in construction and integration of national and state-level productivity accounts in agriculture. The national and state-level ERS productivity measures are widely referred to and used, and international sectoral comparisons rely on the ERS production accounts for foundation methodology in constructing agricultural productivity accounts in other countries." The report (http://ses.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WP2015-12.pdf) also made recommendations for advances and improvements in productivity measurement. These include improved measurement of inputs (land, labor, non-land capital, and intermediate inputs), outputs, quality adjustments, R&D measurement, state-level productivity measurements, and international productivity comparisons. Complementary and parallel research by NC-1034 members have continued to improve U.S. state-level and international estimates of agricultural productivity.