COMMERCIALIZING PRODUCTS FROM PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY 191

value of the crop, the benefit to society, or the degree to which the problem
would be solved, i.e., producing disease-free plants or the more compli-
cated and long-term objective of creating disease-resistant plants.


MARKET JUSTIFICATION

 The cost of the research in relation to the value of the expected product
is undoubtedly the most important consideration in selecting the research
target. Heretofore, the issue of cost has not been as important in the fund-
ing of research through the Agricultural Experiment Stations as it now is in
the plant biotechnology industry. Projects were funded on the basis of the
benefit to society regardless of the need to capture income from the re-
search results. As a commitment to investors who have placed over $4
billion in the biotechnology industry (Murray, 1986), research must pro-
vide a return on the investments. For example, some may ask whether or
not we should improve crops such as cassava that serves as a food staple for
millions of people in many tropical countries. This crop is propagated
vegetatively as a non-market food source and is not distributed extensively
in the market. Thus, even though there may be a compelling need to im-
prove cassava productivity and quality, there is little financial incentive to
do so and little opportunity to distribute improved genetic material to the
users. At present, the major commodity crops such as corn, tomatoes, rice,
potatoes, sugar cane, ornamentals, and vegetables that are traded as pro-
prietary materials with a large market value are the most attractive targets
of plant biotechnology research. After methodologies have been worked
out to improve the major crops and increase the effectiveness of their cul-
ture practices, we may be able to apply biotechnology at a lower cost than
initially to lower value crops or to those where less proprietary control
exists.


 INNOVATIVE RESEARCH:
 CREATING THE ENVIRONMENT

 The biotechnology industry must foster a creative research environ-
ment. Scientific staff like to feel they have opportunities to grow profes-
sionally, that they are not in scientific isolation because of being in indus-
try, and that their ideas are important and worthy of testing. Because of
the high regard research staff hold for the academic community through