The role of small and medium size private breeding companies in germplasm development

Although wheat breeding is of limited profitability if compared to other crops, a viable private sector committed to wheat breeding is found in many countries with commercial agriculture. "The private sector" has been usually perceived as a rather uniform block, and its remarkable diversity is often overlooked. (S) under bar mall and medium size (P) under bar rivatly owned plant breeding (C) under bar ompanies (SPCs) play a major role in germplasm and variety development in Germany and other european countries. SPCs have good potential to increase the overall efficiency of national/regional wheat research systems elsewhere as well. Policy-makers concerned with the design of an efficient national innovation system should take into consideration the comparative advantages and actual and potential contributions of public research insitutions, SPCs, and (m) under bar ultinational (c) under bar orporations (MNCs) in a systematic way to identify the optimum mode of cooperation and division of labour.