Evidence for increasing concentration in plant breeding industries in the United States and the European Union

There is evidence of an increase in market concentration and in the importanceof private plant breeding in the seed industry following the widespreadadoption of Intellectual Property Rights regimes for the industry in thedeveloped world. We use data from the US Patent and Trademark Office, USPlant Variety Protection Office and various European Plant Variety Protectiondatabases to estimate the extent of these changes in the seed corn industry.