Global private-sector agricultural research increasing for crop seeds & biotechnology

Total worldwide private R&D expenditures on agricultural inputs increased from $5.6 billion in 1994 to $11 billion in 2010, an average annual growth rate of 3.6 percent, or 1.4 percent adjusted for inflation. Crop improvement accounted for most of the increase in R&D spending between 1994 and 2010, with inflation-adjusted R&D spending in the animal-related inputs remaining flat. The most rapid growth in agricultural R&D over 1994-2010 was for crop seed and biotechnology traits. Seed-biotechnology research expenditures grew rapidly in the 1990s and between 2007 and 2010. By 2008, they surpassed research expenditures in crop protection chemicals for the first time. Farm machinery research also increased substantially, with much of the growth occurring since 2006. This change reflects both the rising demand for farm mechanization, and the response to more stringent regulatory requirements on farm vehicle exhaust emissions in the United States. This chart updates one found in ”Private Industry Investing Heavily, and Globally, in Research To Improve Agricultural Productivity” in the June 2012 issue of Amber Waves.

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