Are There Adequate Incentives for Research and Innovation in the Plant Breeding Supply Chain?

Abstract

The breeding supply chain has expanded with genomic technology to include basic research scientists and applied genomicists along with traditional plant breeders and farmers. Genomicists have focused on identifying specific DNA sequences or quantitative trait loci (QTL) that can be used as molecular markers. However, the use of molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) by breeders in their programs requires the identified QTL to be reliably correlated with agronomically desirable traits. Replication research is critical for reducing the risk associated with the adoption of new marker-based (or QTL-based) selection strategies, but the applied scientists doing genomics research often do not have the incentives to do replication and other research required to verify the reliability of markers. The misalignment of incentives in the breeding supply chain can curtail the development of the projected advances in food production by genomics research. Using a sample of 24 genomic journals, we found more highly ranked journals tend to favor new research on identifying new QTL over replication research on previously identified QTL. Given that breeders will tend to adopt only those markers perceived to be reliable, the implicit lack of incentives for basic and applied genomic scientists to undertake replication research can impede agricultural innovation.