Pig in an R&D Poke Various coalitions of U.S. agricultural research universities are lamenting that the House Agriculture Committee-approved farm bill failed to include increases in federal subsidies for their research. It is natural for these largely academic institutions to seek greater support, but their rationale is flawed. They warn that other countries like China have substantially increased their agriculture research and development (R&D) spending, and this is a threat. That is an overly simplistic characterization of the situation due to the following factors:

Broader Scope: As noted in a 2016 report (U.S. Agricultural R&D in an Era of Falling Public Funding) by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, U.S. privat...