The list can seem endless because the governments in this region are on aggressive privatization plans, which include health spas, pottery manufacturers and, in Poland, even an animal-breeding station.

WSJ: For Sale: Eastern Europe | WSJ.Money Summer 2013

In 1952 news of Vogel's wheat filtered down to a remote research station in Mexico, where a man named Norman Borlaug was breeding fungus-resistant wheat for a project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

ECONOMIST: The story of wheat: Ears of plenty | The