Private R&D Leads Proponents of public sector agricultural R&D have typically touted the high rate of return on such investments and lamented that this spending category has been relatively flat for many years. This ignores that fact that private spending on agricultural R&D has been concurrently growing more robust. Public funding more heavily focuses on basic research while private money is typically aimed at applying principles to achieve specific commercial results. The outcome focused efforts are beginning to benefit from experience, informing greater regulatory leeway and operational expertise. The latest example is a joint effort by J.R. Simplot and Plant Sciences, Inc. that will both expand the availability of strawberr...