Due to its purported effectseffect on [[fertility]], maca grew in agricultural, commercial, and research interest from the 1990s to 2014.<ref name="Hermann" /><ref name="kilham">{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/08/06/buying-fever-grips-perus-maca-trade/|title=Buying fever grips Peru's maca trade|author=Chris Kilham|date=6 August 2014|publisher=Fox News}}</ref> Market studies showed low acceptance of the particular maca taste by consumers when first exposed to it, creating a barrier for popularity of this food as a culinary vegetable. The economic interest existed more in the perceived but unproven health effects of the root's constituents supplied as an extract in a dietary supplement.<ref name="Hermann" /><ref name="kilham" />
By 2014, agricultural and market interest in maca grew in China, but with challenges from Peruvian institutions who accused Chinese companies of illegally exporting maca and of [[biopiracy]], as several Chinese patents had been filed to improve maca's propagation and genetic diversity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moellerip.com/peru-accuses-chinese-companiesof-biopiracy-involving-maca-root/|title=Peru accuses Chinese companies of biopiracy involving maca root|date=2008|publisher=Moeller IP, Buenos Aires, Argentina}}</ref>
