In the seed industry, biotechnology has largely been used to improve "input" traits for farmers, making crops more productive or easier to grow.

Seed companies are now looking for "output" traits as well, such as those intended to appeal to the end consumer, said Sharon Bomer, executive vice president of food and agriculture for the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

Rice with added vitamins, tomatoes with cancer-prevention properties, peanuts that don't trigger allergies, and soybeans with more healthy omega-3 oils are examples of output-oriented crops, according to BIO.

"Hopefully, it will help public acceptance," Bomer said.

The idea is to inspire enough enthusiasm among buyers to carry through the supply chain, creating demand among farmers for the seed, said Andy LaVigne, president and CEO of the American Seed Trade Association.

"It's going to garner a premium," he said.

Such crops probably wouldn't be grown for the general commodity market, so farmers would likely enter into contracts to grow them, said Bomer.

"It would be viewed as a specialty, high-value product," she said.

Researchers are also working on crops designed specifically for use in biofuels, such as corn that can yield more ethanol or be processed more efficiently, LaVigne said.

Trait developers are studying how corn and other feedstocks are channeled through the supply chain so that value-added crops will wind up where they're needed, he said.

"We're working closely with the grain industry to make sure those issues are addressed," LaVigne said.

-- Mateusz Perkowski