Can we have some more, please, Sir?

Food security is going to be a major global challenge over the next few decades. The world population is still rising ... yet the percentage of land given over to agriculture is falling.

For example, a recent policy summit in Melbourne was told that that while Australian farms are capable of feeding the nation until it more than doubles in population, agricultural productivity is in decline and the effects of a looming food crisis overseas are already being felt in rising grocery costs.

Many countries are in a far worse state than Australia ... and shortages are likely to lead to higher prices then perhaps political instability and even mass migration.

We (collectively) have to find ways of significantly increasing agricultural productivity. Our past record is good ... but the problem gets ever more acute.

In the meantime, perhaps you'd better put a few extra tins in the cupboard!

NHS crawls into the black

A report from the UK Office for National Statistics shows National Health Service productivity rose by 0.7% in 2009 compared with a 2.7% fall from 1995 to 2009.

Any commercial enterprise is likely to have 'gone under' given this record.

So, why is the NHS finding it so hard to be more productive.

I don't know ... but I do know from my experience across a whole range of sectors that it CAN be more productive.

Will the recession-induced cuts help? Possibly. A crisis can be a useful motivator ... but it depends on whether the will is there to identify and implement real productivity changes ... especially where these are potentially politically unpopular.

We all love the NHS .. but we could surely love an efficient NHS even more!

Is higher labour productivity always good?

Statistics New Zealand said labour productivity grew 3.7 per cent in the year to March 2010, the strongest increase in 10 years.

However, this was only because labour input dropped more steeply than output during a period of recession. (This is a common phenomenon which is why productivity figures are unreliable going into or out of recession.)

Paid hours, which Statistics NZ used to measure labour input, dropped 4.3 per cent, the steepest fall since 1992, while output shrank 0.8 per cent.

The drop in labour input was driven by the manufacturing and construction sectors as well as a substantial and widespread decline in self-employed hours, Statistics NZ said.

For the period 2006 to 2010, labour productivity growth was 0.9 per cent, less than half the 2 per cent average since 1978 and a third of the rate prevailing between the mid-1980s and the end of the 1990s.

However Statistics New Zealand notes that the 2006 to 2010 period does not cover an entire peak-to-peak business cycle.

The figures cover about 80 per cent of the economy. They exclude parts of the public sector where productivity is hard to measure, notably in health, education, government administration and defence.

Where does the data come from

A number of European countries are under the financial 'microscope' as they have either been 'bailed out' by the IMF/EU or considered likely candidates for future bailing.

Spain is one such candidate ... and the Prime Minister,Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has suggested that in future wages will be linked to increases in productivity.

I just wait to see who does the measuring .. and the methods - and data - they use.

Give them incentives

Dow Chemicals is investing $100 million in making its manufacturing operations more energy-efficient ... and is using an internal competition to select the divisions and plants that will receive the investment.

When (as here) the result is both good for the company and has an altruistic side or a 'greater good', this is a useful way of involving the workforce in the decision-making process.

The competitive element gives people an incentive to think about where energy can be saved or conserved.

However, if all the benefit accrued to the company (rather than some to society more widely), the incentive would have to be more direct ... with some reward going to the individuals or teams submitting 'winning' entries.

Incentives have become rather unfashionable ... but they still work ... but, of course, you have to be absolutely clear that the incentive you are offering will drive behaviour in the direction you expect!

Its all about energy

Energy productivity is important. Energy costs us money ... and the prices of energy have been rising rapidly in the last few years.

However, we also know that using energy has all sorts of 'side effects' - in terms of creating pollution, in terms of warming the planet ... and, of course, in terms of using up the remaining stocks of fossil fuels.

The Japanese nuclear disaster means it is now much harder to contemplate nuclear power as a contribution to future energy strategy ... so while we look at alternatives, we have to use less of what we have.

Can the planet afford you to use a 2 litre car to take your daughter to school? Can it afford you to fly strawberries halfway around the world just so you can have them out of the local season? Can it afford you (me?) to have your PC on all day just so you can check your emails every few hours?

All of these problems can be addressed by technology .. but shouldn't they be addressed by us thinking a bit more carefully about our priorities .. and about our energy productivity?

China moves to save energy

The Chinese government will publish and implement new building energy efficiency design standards, which are growing closer to the world advanced level, according to a recent meeting on building energy efficiency in Beijing.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan, Beijing will aim at the international advanced level in building energy efficiency and the city plans to promote the standard through legal means as well as economic and administrative methods.

Sui Zhenjiang, director of Beijing Municipal of House and Urban-Rural Development, said that the step will boost the transformation of building energy efficiency, the development of green buildings and the promotion of renewable energy sources and new energy use.