My presentation at the 2013 Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) in Calgary Canada, September 2013. Here I discuss the issues related to recuperating an investment in agricultural biotechnologies' return over time and recuperating such investment with increases in cost of regulatory compliance or delays on the onset of benefits of a potential GM biotechnology. I also discuss the regulatory and knowledge cost/benefit tradeoffs and potential implications especially for public sector research in developing countries.