Whether you are in the business of growing crops, manufacturing cars, or making gourmet ice cream, productivity is key. It determines whether your business is going to fail or succeed, how fast it’s going to grow, and how much money you’re going to make. When it comes to agricultural productivity, there are two types of factors that influence harvest levels: on-farm and external drivers. In this article, we will talk about all of these drivers of agricultural productivity in detail.

On-farm productivity factors carry the most weight, as they can be influenced by farmers, thus allowing them to optimize their operations and increase their harvests and profits. There are two main types of on-farm agricultural productivity factors:

According to statistics, larger farms are generally more productive than smaller operations. This could be due to the fact that new technological advancements are often geared towards larger farms.

Naturally, more knowledgeable farm managers who are willing to make radical changes when necessary run more productive and profitable farms. At the same time, skilled farmworkers provide much better results than their unskilled counterparts.

Many methods that can be used to increase agricultural productivity can be expensive, as they require farmers to purchase new equipment or make costly updates to the technology used on their farms. This can put smaller farmers who have less capital at their disposal at a disadvantage. However, it’s not always necessary to spend lots of money if you want to increase the productivity of your farm. For example, FieldBee offers an affordable tractor autosteer system that is much cheaper than alternatives sold by big-name competitors without forcing you to compromise on quality.

Technological progress has always been one of the main drivers of increases in productivity in any field. In agriculture, this includes the development of new farming devices such as drones, automated irrigation systems, soil sensors, etc., new crops resistant to diseases and pests, more robust seeds, etc.

Varying weather conditions usually have a huge effect on the agricultural productivity of farms. However, farmers can counteract the negative effects of adverse weather conditions on their fields by adjusting irrigation, fertilizer application, types of crops grown in their fields, etc.

Competition between local farms and even agricultural industries of different countries can put pressure on farmers to decrease costs and increase productivity.

Government policies can also have positive or negative effects on overall agricultural productivity in the jurisdiction where they are implemented.

A farm can’t function adequately without access to external infrastructure. This includes roads, rail networks, communication systems, etc. Improvements in external infrastructure usually lead to an increase in agricultural productivity.

There are numerous internal and external factors that affect the agricultural productivity of any given farm. Therefore, farmers who want to increase the profitability of their operations can use many methods to achieve their goals. For example, they can implement new technology, hire better-skilled workers, get more education in their respective fields, gain access to lines of credit, etc.