Does "input sectors" mean "investment departments"?

Context:

From the Laboratory to the Field
Over the last century, private research and development (R&D) expenditures in the seed industry
have increased rapidly both in absolute terms and relative to public expenditures, altering the focus
of R&D and of the crops studied (Fernandez-Cornejo, 2004). Over the past two decades, techno-
logical innovation in the form of modern biotechnology and changes in property rights have enabled
private-sector irms to capture more value from the seeds that they develop, and seed remains the
most research-intensive of the agricultural input sectors to date (Heisey and Fuglie, 2012).
While the rapid commercial success of GE varieties is the fulillment of R&D efforts, earlier bench-
marks include the number of releases for ield testing of GE plant varieties approved by APHIS as
4
Field testing is well as the determination of nonregulated status (see box, !°Regulatory Oversigh!±.
a critical part of seed development (Fernandez-Cornejo and Caswell, 2006).