Standing on the brink of the biotechnology revolution in agriculture, it is time to take stock of the investments and institutional developments regarding agricultural R&D worldwide. Slow Magic: Agricultural R&D a Century After Mendel, a report by Philip G. Pardey and Nienke M. Beintema, assembles and assesses new evidence regarding investments in agricultural R&D, tracking global trends over the past several decades, and highlighting the critical importance that the accumulated stock of scientific knowledge has for today's productivity and for future innovations and economic growth.