Hybrid corn represents an extraordinary research success. The modem average increase in U.S. corn yield is two bushels per acre, or about $330 million, annually with virtually no additional Input. This return is fueled by research investments In corn breeding that must be recovered. Seed companies meet the farmer's demand for more profitable hybrids (higher yield, lower harvest moisture, and easier harvest). Tens of thousands of hybrids are tested at hundreds of locations annually to identify widely adapted hybrids. Corn genetic resources include wild relatives, races, open pollinated varieties, genetic and cytogenetic markers, synthetics, and elite inbreds. Popular modem hybrids contain one or more elite inbreds. Successful corn breeders use the best genetic resources available; elite inbreds are now the best genetic resource. The U.S. patent system requires public access in return for a grant of exclusivity; this ensures continued breeding gain from elite inbreds, reducing feed and food costs for the public good. I suggest that we broaden the U.S. corn germ plasm base by sending elite inbreds to foreign climates, crossing them with superior local races and varieties, backcrossing to the elite inbreds, and selecting for better-adapted progeny before returning them for use in the United States.
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A. Forrest Troyer (1990) studied this question.