Plant Breeding CC
Todd C. Wehner
Department of Horticultural Science
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7609
Todd_Wehner@ncsu.edu
http://cucurbitbreeding.ncsu.edu/
NC STATE UNIVERSITY
Who are we?
Plant Breeding CC
 Multi-state coordinating committee: SCC-080
 Based in southern region experiment stations
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but membership is open to all
Formed in 2006
 First workshop held February 2007
Who are we?
Plant Breeding CC
 Groups represented:
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Land-grant universities
USDA-ARS
Seed industry
Non-government organizations, including organics
Crops represented:
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Fruits, vegetables
Grains, legumes
Ornamentals, flowers, turfgrasses
Forage, fiber crops, forest trees
Who are we?
Plant Breeding CC
 Officers:
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Stephen Baenziger, chair
Philipp Simon, vice-chair
Todd Wehner, secretary
Liaisons:
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Ronnie Coffman, Internat. Plant Breeding Centers
Bill Tracy, Non-Gov. Organization Plant Breeders
Steve McKeand, Forestry Plant Breeders
Herb Ohm, Crop Science Society Amer.
Linda Wessel-Beaver, Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci.
Greg Tolla, Nat. Council Commercial Plant Breeders
Who are we?
Plant Breeding CC
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Representatives:
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Mark Hussey, Administrative advisor
Ann Marie Thro, USDA-CSREES representative
Kay Simmons, USDA-ARS representative
Randy Johnson, US Forest Service representative
Subcommittees (each with chair and secretary):
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Excellence in science and technology
Globally competitive agricultural system
Competitiveness, sustainability, and quality of life in rural America
A safe and secure food and fiber system
A healthy, well-nourished population
Harmony between agriculture and the environment
Education and training of plant breeders
Why do we exist?
Plant Breeding CC
 Basic principles
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Agriculture - the foundation of civilization
Plant breeding - the foundation of agriculture
Highlights of plant breeding:
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Plant domestication
Green revolution
Heterosis
Disease resistance
Nutritionally-enhanced foods
Why do we exist?
Plant Breeding CC
 Private plant breeders:
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Signficant increase in 20th century
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due to changes in our intellectual property laws
Took over some crop improvement duties
Public plant breeders:
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Research: new traits, methods
Teaching: future plant breeders
Breeding: develop new cultivars
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especially: wheat, peanut, sweetpotato, grape
Why do we exist?
Plant Breeding CC
The Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee will
be a forum for leadership regarding issues,
problems and opportunities of long-term
strategic importance to the contribution of plant
breeding to national goals.
http://globalplantbreeding.ncsu.edu/
Why do we exist?
Plant Breeding CC
 Plant breeding is many activities
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Collect, evaluate germplasm (public)
Research new breeding methods (public)
Train graduate students (public)
Develop improved germplasm (public, private)
Release new cultivars (public, private)
Public plant breeding survey
Conclusions
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Few of 51 land grant universities still have plant
breeding programs
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One strong plant breeding university per region of the U.S.
53% of plant breeding graduates are from 7 land grant
universities
Public plant breeders remaining are poorly funded
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Public plant breeders retiring may not be replaced
Number of plant breeders in the public and private sectors in the U.S. in
1994 and 2001.
Crops
SAES
1994
2001
USDA-ARS
Private sector
1994
1994
2001
Total
2001
1994
2001
Grain
246
200
54
89
903
1026
1203
1315
Fiber
20
24
13
11
103
123
136
157
Forage
38
27
33
13
51
65
122
105
Sugar
4
4
15
0
25
4
44
8
Vegetables
99
55
22
25
268
123
389
203
Ornamentals
18
39
5
0
64
83
87
122
Fruit & Nut
60
41
29
23
32
12
121
76
Lawn & Turf
15
16
0
0
41
9
56
24
Others
28
18
6
0
10
100
44
118
528
424
177
161
1497
1545
2202
2130
Total
From: Frey (1996), Traxler et al. (2005), Morris et al. (2006)
Plant Breeding Students Trained in the U.S., 1995-2000
Total
Domestic
International
Land Grant University
degrees Ph.D. M.S.
Ph.D M.S.
All universities
743
151
202
243
147
Univ. Wisconsin-Madison
North Carolina State Univ.
Univ. Nebraska-Lincoln
Cornell Univ.
Univ. Minnesota
Iowa State Univ.
Texas A&M Univ.
Michigan State Univ.
North Dakota State Univ.
Oregon State Univ.
72
64
61
54
48
44
41
36
33
28
22
7
5
18
16
13
9
10
3
4
18
21
10
5
11
13
10
12
13
5
16
26
27
27
13
12
18
8
11
16
16
10
19
4
8
6
4
6
6
3
Wehner and Guner, 2002 (plantbreeding.ncsu.edu)
Plant Breeding Students Trained in U.S., 1995-2000 (per year)
Total
Domestic
International
Land Grant University
degrees Ph.D. M.S.
Ph.D M.S.
All universities
124
25
34
40
24
Univ. Wisconsin-Madison
North Carolina State Univ.
Univ. Nebraska-Lincoln
Cornell Univ.
Univ. Minnesota
Iowa State Univ.
Texas A&M Univ.
Michigan State Univ.
North Dakota State Univ.
Oregon State Univ.
12
11
10
9
8
7
7
6
5
5
4
1
1
3
3
2
1
2
1
1
3
4
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
3
4
5
5
2
2
3
1
2
3
3
2
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Wehner and Guner, 2002 (plantbreeding.ncsu.edu)
Problem
Plant Breeding CC
 Public breeders needed
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Private breeders do not do research
Private breeders do not educate students
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U.S. needs 200 PB students/year
U.S. trains 120 PB students/year
Private breeders do not work on all crops
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Thanksgiving dinner will not exist!
Rolls, sweetpotato, wine
What are we doing?
Plant Breeding CC
 Promoting communication among breeders
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Different sectors: federal, state, private, non-profit
Different crops: agronomy, horticulture, forestry
Assembling information on plant breeding
Developing support for plant breeding
Identifying research, education priorities
What are we doing?
Plant Breeding CC
 Organizing plant breeders in the U.S.
 Bringing awareness of problem to the public
 Federal support needed:
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national-needs fellowships in plant breeding
competitive grants for plant breeding
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more years per grant
support for centers of excellence in breeding
Hatch funds for experiment station support
Plant Breeding CC
More information
 See web page at:
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Or, find in Google by entering:
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globalplantbreeding.ncsu.edu
plant breeding coordinating committee
Or, contact one of the officers
Plant Breeding CC
Thank you
 Questions?