Passing the food and agricultural R&D buck? The United States and China

Global volatility of public agricultural R&D expenditure

“…Such international research spillovers have in the past contributed to global agricultural productivity growth ( Alston, 2002 ). Thus, a decrease in the growth of public agricultural expenditure and its instability in high-income countries is likely to impact the “size, shape and accessibility of the global stocks of scientific knowledge that underpin food and agricultural sectors worldwide” ( Chai et al, 2019 , p. 1).…”

“…Our third point follows from the previous one, in that the declining share of high-income countries in global agricultural R&D has been marked by a rise in the share of middle-income countries like China, Brazil and India ( Pardey et al, 2016 ). In fact, China now spends more than the United States in both public and private agricultural R&D and if current trends are any indication is likely to continue to do so ( Chai et al, 2019 ; Pardey et al, 2018 ). As highlighted in the results section, Brazil, China and India, also have considerably stable public agricultural R&D expenditures.…”

“…As highlighted in the results section, Brazil, China and India, also have considerably stable public agricultural R&D expenditures. Thus, these countries and in particular China, appear poised to play a key role in the realignment of the global geography of agricultural innovation in the future ( Chai et al, 2019 ). But will they able to do so?…”

“…The other significant development related to global agricultural R&D has been the relatively slow growth in public agricultural R&D in high-income countries while middle-income countries have begun to invest more ( Chai et al, 2019 ; Pardey et al, 2016 ). Using data on public agricultural R&D expenditure for a sample of 31 high-income countries, Heisey and Fuglie, find that on average the share of national public R&D expenditure devoted to agriculture reduced from around 9% in 1981–85 to 5.5% in 2009–13 ( Heisey and Fuglie, 2018 ).…”

The Impact of Agricultural Service on Grain Production in China

“…First, due to the importance of agriculture, the Chinese government has significantly invested in agricultural technology decades ago in all the provinces [38,39]. Previous studies showed that China has outspent the United States in both public and private food and agricultural research on purchasing power parity basis [40]. Second, due to the development of media (e.g., smart phone, internet, TV, etc.…”