The science, funding and organisation of plant breeding in Australia has changed greatly since the 1980s. This paper explores the institutional change in plant variety provision in Australia. The roles of key economic and political agents are emphasized, along with the impact of changes in biotechnology and intellectual property rights. Their joint interaction has produced a set of complex agribusiness arrangements that underpin the current funding and supply of plant varieties. The pace of institutional change has been rapid and is uncovering a further set of agribusiness issues such as access to enabling biotechnologies, funder capture, contestability in pricing of varieties and access to royalty collection facilities.