Industry and publicly funded research institutes alike are interested in developing the new technology. Apomixis would make it much quicker for plant breeders to develop new varieties that for example are specially adapted to suit specific local environmental conditions. It would make the preservation and proliferation of all varieties possible, including hybrids. Farmers in the developing countries in particular would stand to benefit from the technology if the seed were made available to them at a low price. Vast resources in terms of time and money are being invested in apomixis research.
Patent applications are therefore highly likely to follow hot on the heels of reproducible results.
The first apomictic corn was patented in the USA in 1997. There is the danger that access to this new technology will be limited to a few users and that the technology will be controlled by a few global players. Therefore, a declaration was passed in 1998 at an international conference on apomixis research at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Conference and Study Center with the aim of promoting affordable access to this technology for all and pinpointing the potential negative side effects associated with commercial exploitation of apomixis. One possible scenario are restrictions on the global sale of agricultural products produced in the developing countries using technologies patented in the industrialized countries. This splitting into domestic and export markets would lower the competitiveness of farmers in the developing countries.