The high GMO adoption rates in the U.S., Brazil, and Argentina, the leading countries in soybean production, have raised the question of whether non‐GM varieties will continue to be developed for farmer uses (i.e. whether new competitive non‐GM varieties will be bred and released). This article outlines the current status of the soybean seed market and plant breeding for these three leading producers of soybeans. The focus on research and development of new soybean varieties in countries with different GM soybean adoption rates, and different economic and legal contexts, also provides new insight into how the development of a GM culture, of any species, might exclude the development of the alternative non‐GM culture of the same crop.