Agriculture enjoys neither the profitability nor the investor interest of medicine, so the resources brought to bear on the Human Genome Project are scarce in plant genetics.

ECONOMIST: The Arabidopsis genome

CropDesign, a Belgian plant genetics company, has secured private financing by appealing to the handful of venture capitalists with enough experience of agricultural biotechnology not to be rattled.

ECONOMIST: Biotechnology

Most information was then available free of charge on CNBC, the Weather Channel or Web sites run by Farm Journal and Pioneer, a seed and plant genetics division of DuPont.

FORBES: Third time's a charm for this little data provider. Or is it?

Other attractions include a water discovery centre on stilts above one of seven lakes, a garden dedicated to the understanding of plant genetics and woodland containing species of trees from all over the world.

BBC: Botanic garden proves a hit

As plant genetics research advances, however, industry scientists hope that it will be possible to breed cottonseed that produces superior flour, high-quality lint, and oil, so that almost every ingredient in a birthday cake can be produced with the leftovers from Nelson's cotton production.

NPR: Texas Cotton: 'Farmer Profits at Every Step'

Given that Brazil holds approximately one-third of the world's biodiversity and 20% of its fresh water in the Amazon rainforest, it is also becoming a leader in fields ranging from combating deforestation (which has dropped by 80% since 2004) to plant genetics.

CNN: Is Brazil ready to take sporting center stage?