Recent studies using semi-endogenous growth models claim that the slowdown in U.S. productivity growth reflects a widespread and systematic decline in productivity of researchers — in other words, ideas are getting harder to find. In this article, we challenge the underlying conceptual model, the corresponding measure of research productivity and the apparent implication that declining productivity of researchers is clearly responsible for the observed slowdown in productivity growth. We present a range of evidence including measures for the national economy, agriculture and wheat breeding, all of which negates the notion that research productivity is fading fast.