This article focuses on agricultural productivity growth at both sector and
state levels. It does so in a way that preserves the economic integrity of
national and state production accounts. A model accounting for interstate
transactions in farm goods links sectorwide and state-specific measures of
total factor productivity growth. An interesting conclusion is that the smo
oth, persistently positive trend typically observed for farm sector product
ivity growth masks considerable variation across states and regions. The re
sults also indicate that farm sector productivity growth is wholly a functi
on of productivity trends in the individual states. Interstate shifts in pr
oduction activity and resource reallocations have had little impact.