How Concentrated is the Plant Biotechnology Industry?
We distinguish between the R&D industry (which is in the business of developing gene constructs) and the transgenic seed industry (which is in the business of selling seed for commercialized transgenic plant varieties). We first apply the GR4 measure to the transgenic seed industry and then examine the correspondence between this measure and the GR4 and CR4 measures applied to the R&D industry. The transgenic seed industry is rather concentrated. In 1999, there were only four firms with significant revenue from sales of transgenic plant seed or biotechnology trait rights (Monsanto, 1999).6 Only eight firms have ever successfully deregulated a herbicide-tolerant (HT) variety of any crop (based on APHIS data), and only four of these currently exist as firms with independent technologies. For insect resistance only seven firms have successfully deregulated, and only four of these are still operating independently. For product quality, only seven firms have successfully deregulated, and on
