Measuring the Sustainability of the UK Food Chain

Andrew Barnes and Alistair McVittie

No 46003, Working Papers from Scottish Agricultural College, Land Economy Research Group

Abstract: Recent policy interest has been directed at the sustainability of food industries, in particular the post-farm gate food chain. This comprises of manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing and catering. In order to measure sustainability Byerlee and Murgai (2001) have argued that productivity measures, alongside key indicators of resource quality trends, should be used to indicate sustainable growth. This paper adopts this approach by presenting Fisher indexes of both Total Factor Productivity (TFP) index and for prominent externalities emerging from the food chain over the period 1998 to 2002. TFP shows an average annual growth rate of –0.52% per annum. Input growth, in particular intermediate purchases, has outstripped output growth over the entirety of this period. In addition, major externalities of environmental and social costs have increased over this period. Consequently, both sets of indicators give a somewhat bleak assessment of the sustainability of the UK food chain.

Keywords: Total Factor Productivity; Externalities; Sustainable Growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-11
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:saclwp:46003

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