Technological change is crucial for the continued socio-economic development of a country. A number of factors underpin a society’s ability to foster continuous technological change, one of which is necessarily the conditions for appropriability. These have become increasingly important since the location of technological change remains largely in the hands of organised research centres housed in large corporations. This paper examines a selection of the issues that interface between innovation and appropriability in the case of plant breeding. This industry has only lately become a subject of study, following the increasing industrialisation of farm-related activities, the technological restructuring of breeding through biotechnology, and the enhancement of the scope of intellectual property rights (IPR) in plant breeding.