TY  - JOUR
AU  - Wright, Brian D
AU  - Shih, Tiffany M
TI  - Agricultural Innovation
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15793
PY  - 2010
Y2  - March 2010
DO  - 10.3386/w15793
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15793
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15793.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Brian Wright
University of California, Berkeley
Agricultural and Resource Economics
Berkeley, CA   94720-3310
E-Mail: bwright@berkeley.edu

Tiffany Shih
Precision Health Economics
E-Mail: tiffany.shih@precisionhealtheconomics.com
M1  - published as Tiffany Shih, Brian Wright. "Agricultural Innovation," in Rebecca M. Henderson and Richard G. Newell, editors, "Accelerating Energy Innovation: Insights from Multiple Sectors" University of Chicago Press (2011)

M3  - presented at "Accelerating Energy Innovation", October 23, 2009
AB  - The achievements in agricultural innovation over the past century have been impressive, supporting large increases in agricultural yields and low food prices. Critical to this success has been sustained public sector investment combined with a decentralized and competitive research system in the US. Recent intellectual property reforms motivated increased private investment, yet the private sector still relies upon basic research produced by the public sector. Problems with scientific freedom to operate as well as concentration in the agricultural biotechnology industry also emerged due to intellectual property rights. For new technologies, the case of agriculture demonstrates that government has an important role in antitrust, the effective and efficient regulation of technologies, and in facilitating technology adoption.
ER  -