Washington, DC
June 22, 2007Source:
Economic Research Service of
the United States Department of Agriculture
Based on a 1994 national plant
breeding study conducted by Dr. Ken Frey of Iowa State
University, this data product provides the level of plant
breeding effort (in terms of staff years and estimated
expenditures) in the U.S. by academia and the public and private
sector. The study is a comprehensive accounting of national
plant breeding efforts, and provides the only national benchmark
to compare current and/or future efforts and developments in
this critically important area of research. In an effort to
compare and update the information in the 1994 study, a
follow-up study was done to describe U.S. plant breeding
investment in 2001.
OVERVIEW
Plant breeding activity has
significantly changed since the 1970s. In the U.S. and
elsewhere, laws have been written and refined to protect through
patenting intellectual property embodied in biological material.
Patent protection has led to more formal protocols for
interactions among plant breeders employed in both the public
and private sectors. Research in molecular biology has resulted
in biotechnology techniques that expand the array of genes
available in plant breeding programs and make plant breeding a
more precise science.
These factors have resulted in a vast increase in plant breeding
by private companies. According to a 1994 national survey, 2,241
scientist years (SYs) were devoted to plant breeding research
and development in U.S. public and private sectors that
year—1,499 SYs in private companies, 529 in state and
territorial agricultural experiment stations (SAES), and 213
associated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During
1990-94, SAES experienced a net loss of 12.5 plant breeding SYs,
while private industry showed a net growth of 160 SYs.
Full document:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/PlantBreeding/ |
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