The gains from agricultural research under distorted trade

Research and development (R&D) in the heavily subsidized grain industry benefits individual producers but not the country as a whole. In a world market such as wheat, any surplus created by R&D goes to an export market which sells grains at nearly zero profit. However, since the negative effects of subsidies mostly affect taxpayers, there is no incentive for individual producers to desist. R&D does benefit agricultural efforts globally, often assisting developing nations.