Food will be more affordable — if we double funds for agriculture research now
Summary
Author style: Punchy — this is urgent. The article analyses 40 years of agrifood R&D spending (1980–2021) and shows a worrying slowdown in real investment since 2015. Public funding growth has faltered, private spending has risen to roughly parity with public investment, and middle-income countries (especially in the Asia-Pacific) now account for much of global R&D spend. The authors warn that because agricultural innovation takes decades to deliver results, the recent slowdown will translate into higher food prices, greater environmental pressure and increased food insecurity unless public and private actors rapidly boost and better align R&D funding.
Article Date: 2025-06-03
Article URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03970-0
Key Points
- Growth in real agrifood R&D spending slowed from ~2.7% per year (1980–2015) to ~1.9% per year (2015–2021); over half of countries slowed and one-third reduced spending.
- Private-sector R&D now contributes nearly 50% of global agrifood R&D (up from ~32% in 1980), while public investment growth has weakened.
- Middle-income countries now dominate spending: the Asia-Pacific region accounts for ~50% of global agrifood R&D; China, India and Brazil are major investors.
- R&D lags mean today’s cuts will raise food prices and environmental stress for decades — breeding and adoption of new varieties and systems takes a long time.
- Low-income countries, notably in sub-Saharan Africa, remain severely underfunded (around 3% of global spend) and may not benefit from technologies developed elsewhere.
- The authors call for a rapid doubling of collective agrifood R&D spending within five years, then sustaining ~3% real annual growth to secure future productivity.
- Recommendations include better public–private alignment, improved data governance, non-profit facilitation of partnerships, and funding models insulated from electoral cycles.
Content summary
The paper presents a data-driven account showing how global agrifood R&D investment patterns shifted between 1980 and 2021. While agricultural output rose substantially (mostly via productivity per unit land), recent years show a clear slowdown in R&D funding growth. Private firms have taken on a much larger share of investment, and middle-income countries now lead total spending. Because research to improve seeds, water management, soil health and supply chains can take decades to reach farmers at scale, the authors argue that current underinvestment will push up food prices and damage environmental and social outcomes in the long term.
They emphasise that public funding is essential for foundational science and socially valuable projects with low commercial returns, while private R&D tends to target commercialisable technologies and post-farm activities. The piece ends with a concrete call: double global agrifood R&D in the next five years and then maintain steady real growth, alongside smarter coordination between public, private and non-profit actors and clearer data-management arrangements.
Context and relevance
This is highly relevant to policy-makers, funders, agricultural businesses, NGOs and researchers. It ties into ongoing concerns about climate extremes, population growth and food-price inflation. The analysis links spending trends to future food security: slowdowns now mean fewer innovation-driven productivity gains later, increasing the risk of hunger, higher consumer prices and environmental degradation. It also highlights an equity problem — technologies and R&D are concentrated in a few countries, leaving low-income regions vulnerable.
Why should I read this?
Short version: if you care about food prices, climate resilience or global stability, this matters — big time. The article gives the data and a clear policy prescription: pump more public money into agrifood research, and align it better with private investment. Read it to get the numbers, the risks and practical fixes in one place.