liuernational Diffusion of Technology: A Case Study of Sugarcane Varieties 39 



to cane-breeding has decreased as more resources have been 

 devoted to research in the fundamental physiological and biologi- 

 cal properties of the cane plant and its environment. 



Economic considerations enter into modern cane-breeding. 

 Factor price changes in cane production, for example, alter the 

 breeding strategy. A relative decline in the price of fertilizer in- 

 creases the economic value of fertilizer responsiveness in the 

 cane plant. Researchers are responding by altering their programs 

 to produce this characteristic. A relative increase in the price of 

 labor increases the economic value of improvements in machine- 

 harvesting technology. It also increases the economic value of 

 uniformity and nonlodging characteristics of the cane plant, 

 which are complementary to machine-harvesting technology. 

 The development of machine-harvesting techniques was in part 

 dependent on the cane-breeding efforts to develop varieties suit- 

 able to these techniques. 



International Transmission 



International transmission generally took place very slowly in 

 stage 1 , the period of the native variety. The general expansion of 

 trade in sugar speeded up the transmission of varieties during the 

 latest period of native variety selection. The development of the 

 first artificially produced varieties (stage 2) led to their natural in- 

 troduction into other countries. However, these new varieties, as 

 noted, were often subject to diseases. In many instances, after 

 their introduction, they were replaced by the same native, dis- 

 ease-resistant varieties they have initially replaced. 



This susceptibility of the stage 2 varieties to disease introduced 

 an important new element into the international transmission 

 process. It created the need for new information about the exis- 

 tence of disease organisms in particular areas and the suscep- 

 tibility of particular varieties to these diseases. This information 

 was required, in addition to the information about yield levels 

 under particular climatic conditions, crushing characteristics, and 

 other aspects needed to determine the profitability of a new 

 variety. 



The experiment station now became not only the major pro- 

 ducer of new varieties but also a major factor in the process of in- 



