In the face of higher grain prices and slowing agricultural productivity growth the G20 Ministers announced the International Wheat Initiative. In North America, the privatization of public wheat breeding programs is seen as a means foster productivity growth. This paper explores the UK experience with the privatization of wheat breeding that began with the sale of Cambridge Plant Breeding Institute to Unilever in 1987. Beginning with an economic framework, the analysis presented in this paper is based on interviews with sixteen experts currently involved in wheat research/breeding in the UK, all interviewed during the month of July 2012. Taking a snapshot of UK wheat research today, it would be easy to conclude that the UK sector made a smooth transition from public to private breeding. However, this is not the case. The UK faced many challenges in establishing an integrated wheat innovation system and has only recently developed policies and funding processes that have allowed upstream public scientists to work with small, arguably underfunded, downstream private wheat breeding industry. As policy makers around the world contemplate the privatization of crop breeding, important lessons can be drawn from the challenges and successes of the UK crop research funding model.