National Association of
Plant Breeders
Todd C. Wehner, Professor
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?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Represents all plant breeders
 All crops (field crops, horticultural crops, forestry)
 Public and private sectors
 Mainly U.S. plant breeders,
 but membership includes internationals
 Formed by Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee
 at the national meeting in 2009
Who are we?
Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee
 Multi-state coordinating committee: SCC-080
 Based in southern region experiment stations
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but national in scope, and membership open to all
Formed in 2006
 First workshop held February 2007
Who are we?
Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee
'a forum for issues, problems and
opportunities of strategic importance for
contribution of plant breeding to national
goals'
Who are we?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Groups represented:
 Land-grant universities
 USDA-ARS
 Seed industry
 Non-government organizations, including organics
 Crops represented:
 Fruits, vegetables
 Grains, legumes
 Ornamentals, flowers, turfgrasses
 Forage, fiber crops, forest trees
Who are we?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Officers:
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Philipp Simon (USDA-ARS), president
Todd Wehner (NC State Univ.), vice-president
Rita Mumm (Univ. Illinois), secretary
Seth Murray (Texas A&M Univ.), web editor
Stephen Baenziger (Univ. Nebraska), past-pres.
Who are we?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Liaisons:
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Stephen Baenziger, CGIAR Centers
Paul Gepts, CGIAR Centers
Bill Tracy, Private Non-Profit Breeders
Fikret Isik, Forestry Plant Breeders
Pat Byrne, Crop Science Society Amer. Plant Breeders
Karl Glasener, Amer. Soc. Agronomy
Caron Gala, Amer. Soc. Agronomy
Linda Wessel-Beaver, Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. Plant Breeders
Amy Iezzoni, Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. Plant Breeders
Tom Koch, Nat. Commercial Council of Plant Breeders
Who are we?
Plant Breeding CC
 Representatives:
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George Askew, Administrative advisor
Ann Marie Thro, NIFA representative
Roy Scott, USDA-ARS representative
Randy Johnson, US Forest Service representative
Why do we exist?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Private plant breeders:
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increased significantly in 1900s
 due to changes in 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
 especially: wheat, peanut, sweetpotato, grape
Why do we exist?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Plant breeding is many activities
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Collect germplasm (public)
Research new breeding methods (public)
Train graduate students (public)
Develop improved germplasm (public, private)
Release new varieties (public, private)
Why do we exist?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Plant breeding is many activities
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



Collect germplasm (public)
Research new breeding methods (public)
Train graduate students (public)
Develop improved germplasm (public, private)
Release new varieties (public, private)
Public plant breeding survey
Conclusions - 2002
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Few universities have plant breeding programs
 1 or 2 universities per U.S. region
 (52+17=69 land-grant universities)
 53% of graduates from just 7 universities
Public plant breeders remaining are poorly funded
 Retiring public breeders may not be replaced
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
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Public breeders needed
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Private breeders do not publish 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, sweetpotatoes, cranberries, wine
Why do we exist?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Plant breeding is many activities
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Collect germplasm (public)
Research new breeding methods (public)
Train graduate students (public)
Develop improved germplasm (public, private)
Release new varieties (public, private)
What are we doing?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Promoting communication among breeders
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Assembling information on plant breeding
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Different sectors: federal, state, private, non-profit
Different crops: agronomy, horticulture, forestry
Where are the breeding programs?
How should we train students?
Share courses using distance education?
Identifying research, education priorities
Developing support for plant breeding
What are we doing?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Financial support needed
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Plant breeding programs are expensive to run
Projects often not short-term; grants are!
Competitive grants may lead to 'fad breeding'
Hatch funding should provide the base!
How can we help NIFA?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Global food security and hunger
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Climate change
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High yield: more food, feed, fiber
without using more land
Develop new varieties that resist heat and drought
may also need chilling resistance
Sustainable energy
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Breed new varieties of existing crops: sweetpotato
Develop new crops for biofuels: switchgrass
How can we help NIFA?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Food safety
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Develop crops that resist food pathogens
Less-netted cantaloupes resist pathogen
transfer
Childhood obesity
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Breed for high flavor, high nutrition
Carrots have 50% more (1975) carotene now
more flavor, color; consumption up 30-40%
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
What do we want?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Current support for genotyping centers
 a good idea
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Provide resources for breeding
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Centers are efficient (shared over regions)
genotyping
phenotyping
transformation
doubled haploids for 'instant inbreds'
What do we want?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Support for:
 Plant breeding programs on all crops,
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even if there are private breeders on that crop
public private efforts are complementary
What do we want?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Federal support needed:
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fellowships in plant breeding
support for centers of excellence in breeding
competitive grants for plant breeding
 more years per grant
Hatch funds for experiment station support
Breeding is a long-term project!
virus, nematode, mildew resistance
National Assoc. Plant Breeders
More information
 See web page at:
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Plant Breeding CC
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PlantBreeding.com
PlantBreeding.org
Or, contact one of the officers
National Assoc. Plant Breeders
Thank you
 Questions?
Why do we exist?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Highlights of plant breeding:
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Plant domestication
Green revolution
Heterosis
Disease resistance
Nutritionally-enhanced foods
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
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)
Who are we?
Plant Breeding CC
 Officers:





Philipp Simon (USDA-ARS), chair
Todd Wehner (NC State Univ.), vice-chair
Rita Mumm (Univ. Illinois), secretary
Seth Murray (Texas A&M Univ.), web editor
Stephen Baenziger (Univ. Nebraska), past-chair
Elisras
Derdepoort
Marken
Potgietersrus
T habazimbi
Bray
Zeerust
Mmabat ho
T wee Rivieren
Stella
Van Zylsrus
Vryburg
Kuruman
Oliphantshook
Upington
Groblershoop
Pret oria
Johannesburg
Why do we exist?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Basic principles of plant breeding:
 Agriculture - the foundation of civilization
 Plant breeding - the foundation of agriculture
Who are we?
Plant Breeding CC
 Committees (each with chair and secretary):
 Grand challenges
 Science, technology and informatics
 Communications and outreach
 Awards and nominations
 Education and training of plant breeders
What do we want?
National Association of Plant Breeders
 Federal support:
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AFRI competitive grants program
Specialty crops research initiative
Germplasm collection program
Germplasm evaluation program
 Crop Genetics Committees
Germplasm Resources Information Network
Hatch (formula) funding for experiment stations
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.