Colombia appears to be aligned with the normal path of economic transformation given that the share of agriculture has decreased and the non-agricultural sector has become dominant in the economy. In the process, the agricultural sector was expected to increase its productivity. However, Colombian agricultural productivity growth has been slow and has lagged compared with other Latin American countries. This paper employs cointegration and vector error correction (VEC) models to analyze the impact of agricultural research and development spending and other factors on agricultural output, labor, and land productivity in Colombia for the period 1981-2016. The Johansen cointegration test suggests that there is a long-run relationship between R&D spending and agricultural output and land productivity in Colombia. The downward trend in R&D spending observed in recent years in Colombia should be reversed to promote agricultural and economic development through improvements in agricultural productivity.