Can private industry do it all without public sector breeding:
training and breeding?
Can future scientists be trained without a fully developed breeding program in place to
help them learn their art and science?
What skills do you believe plant breeders of the future will need? Please explain the role
you see the Land Grant University playing in ensuring that plant breeders of the future
will have those necessary skills.
How do you see public vs. private funding of graduate student research at Land Grant
Universities shaping the future of plant breeding?
How do you think public breeding programs can/should support small (organic) farmers
that don’t have the means to support their own breeding programs?
Would it be possible for public breeding programs to include biotechnology and GMO
work?
Gene flow - everyone on this panel is from a different sector of crop germplasm
development, working on different traits in different genetic pools. How do your gene
pools intersect?
Genetic erosion - what do you see as the potential solutions for preserving the genetic
diversity of crops in their centers of origin, and how will new alleles from those sources
make their way into large-scale agriculture to contribute to future food security?
For everyone, but especially those at larger institutions:
Regional adaptation - when is it absolutely necessary and possibly expendable?
Emerging technologies - how will they change future varieties and how and by whom
those varieties are developed?
What role do you see regional seed companies playing in the development of local food
systems?
What do you think should be societies biggest concerns regarding the consolidation of
seed production?
With more funding for University research coming from the private sector, what
opportunities and funding sources are out there to conduct farmer driven plant breeding
work at the University?
What regions in the world are currently carrying out the most locally adapted plant
breeding?
Dr. Peter Boches- Blueberry breeding. Fall Creek, Springfield, OR
1. What are your breeding goals/what traits are you selecting for/not selecting
for in the new varieties you are developing?
2. Have you done any research regarding blueberry scorch virus/ blueberry
shock virus? If so, what? If not, do you plan to look into this area and
determine which genes cause resistance?
Dr. Steve Knapp- Monsanto. Woodland, CA
1. What requirements, classes, and qualities are you (Monsanto) looking for in
future employees?
2. Are there any internships available through Monsanto for current students to
obtain non-university training and experience?
Dr. Robbie Waugh
In high-income countries, despite compelling evidence of high rates of return and a
significant productivity slowdown, support for agricultural science has broadly waned.
Moreover, in these countries, of the amounts being spent on “agricultural science,” an
ever-increasing share is being directed towards off-farm issues—such as health and
nutrition, food safety, biofuels technology, and the environment—leaving less for
research directed at maintaining let alone increasing farm productivity. What steps can
be taken by universities and public sector plant breeders to convince governments that
plant breeding is both a good financial investment as well as a vital necessity to feed an
ever expanding population?
For Dr. Steve Knapp:
Historically, much of the world has depended on spillovers from R&D investments in
wealthier countries. With agricultural R&D declining in the wealthy countries, the
world’s poorest countries have fallen even farther behind, particularly in an era of
increasingly proprietary and local research emphases. How can private industry
contribute more effectively than the public sector to fill this vital humanitarian benefit
from agricultural R&D?
Dr. Peter Boches. Blueberry breeding. Fall Creek, Springfield, OR
1. You did your MS in the Vegetable Breeding lab at OSU, how did you transition to
blueberries? Did your training in vegetable breeding prepare you adequately for breeding
any crop?
2. What is your favorite thing about working for a local company?
Dr. Carol Deppe. Plant Breeder and owner, Fertile Valley Seeds, Corvallis, OR
1. What was your inspiration for writing "the resilient gardener"?
2. What is the most widespread and challenging condition today?s plant breeders face
(drought, flood, climate change)?
Dr. Steve Knapp. Monsanto. Woodland, CA
1. Monsanto's business model invests heavily in research and development, and recoups
the expenses through the use and enforcement of biological patents. Do you think
universities such as OSU would benefit from adopting this model to fund breeding
programs?
2. As a breeder for the private industry, do you feel you have more or less freedom than a
public sector breeder?
Dr. Alan Kapuler. Plant Breeder and owner, Peace Seeds. Corvallis, OR
1. Is plant breeding an art or a science?
2. Can the field of organic breeding benefit from the use of molecular and genomic tools?
Dr. Kevin Smith. Barley breeding, University of Minnesota. St. Paul, MN
1. How can genetics play a role in sustainability?
2. Your spring barley program has been around since 1920, what challenges arise with
managing a breeding program nearly 100 years old?
Dr. Robbie Waugh. Crop genomics, James Hutton Institute. Scotland
1. Genomics and informatics has sped up breeding technology tremendously with
systems such as Marker Assisted Selection. Although this technology is extremely
beneficial to our field, I am concerned that breeders are losing touch with their material in
the field. How can breeders stay on the forefront of technology, while also maintaining
important field technique.
2. Do you see the cost of genomics and informatics dropping? when do you anticipate
this technology will be cost effective for minor crops?
Question for a university panelist or an organic grower :
Today, it seems almost inevitable that all of the efforts of our ancestors to promote
diversity and local adaptation of plants will be lost to a monocropping of our
planet. From my perspective, it looks like our only hope for continued breeding for nonlucrative diversity lies upon the shoulders of the independent breeders and public
universities. I would like to know if you have any ideas on how these programs can be
funded ? Have you had any success in finding funds for such breeding ?
For Alan or Carol :
We keep hearing that the population is growing and how big of a challenge it is going to
be in the future to feed the planet. How large of a role could the independent breeder
potentially play in regards to organic farming and global food security?
How do you think public breeding programs can/should support small (organic) farmers
that don’t have the means to support their own breeding programs?
Would it be possible for public breeding programs to include biotechnology and GMO
work?
I had made a long list of questions earlier, then realized that would be annoying to email.
Here are some highlights, but I can always send more:
For everyone, but especially the DIY breeders:
Gene flow - everyone on this panel is from a different sector of crop germplasm
development, working on different traits in different genetic pools. How do your gene
pools intersect?
Genetic erosion - what do you see as the potential solutions for preserving the
genetic diversity of crops in their centers of origin, and how will new alleles from those
sources make their way into large-scale agriculture to contribute to future food security?
For everyone, but especially those at larger institutions:
Regional adaptation - when is it absolutely necessary and possibly expendable?
Emerging technologies - how will they change future varieties and how and by
whom those varieties are developed?
What role do you see regional seed companies playing in the development of local food
systems?
What do you think should be societies biggest concerns regarding the consolidation of
seed production?
With more funding for University research coming from the private sector, what
opportunities and funding sources are out there to conduct farmer driven plant breeding
work at the University?
Questions for Peter Boches,
1. Could you please explain in detail the collaboration Fall Creek has with national and
international breeding programs? What are the benefits that the international part obtain?
2. Do professionals or students with an international degree are eligible to be part of Fall
Creek? What do you think is the advantage of working with international professionals
taking into account that most recent and modern technology is at US universities?
Peter Boches:
As a semi-recent graduate of OSU, do you believe your graduate training as a plant
breeder through the university system was useful/necessary for the work you currently
do?
Not sure who to direct this to…
While listening to a panel on vegetable breeding, a woman who received her PhD in
genetics and is currently breeding for a private seed company said that she almost never
uses the knowledge gained from her degree, and that anyone who has eyes can be a plant
breeder. How would you respond to this? Are we over-training graduate students in the
university system for a task that could be done by anyone “who has eyes” with minimal
training?
Question 1 (for Carol Deppe and/or Steve Knapp): Do you think a plant breeding
company could make a profit from only public-sector releases?
Question 2 (for Peter Boches): What skills did you consider to be most important when
you began working as a breeder at Fall Creek?
For Dr. Robbie Waugh: As our only international panelist, how does the institute you
work at see public breeding work? Is it encouraged? Also, do those views correspond
with other institutes in Scotland?
For Dr. Alan Kapuler: On several interviews in the past few years, you state that there is
a problem with the way of breeding now, and that in the past ?...schools would hire
people interested to make crops for the local area so the local self sufficiency was
enhanced, and so there was more diversity in the local food system. That’s broken down."
Where do you see the root of this problem? Also, in today's world, what are universities'
and public sector roles in breeding, in your opinion?
Peter Boches and/or Steve Knapp.
I would like to know how satisfied they are with the plant breeding education at US
universities. So, if they think students that graduate from a university here with a plant
breeding degree can directly become breeders or if they think the companies have to
provide a lot of additional training.
If they think the universities do a good job, I would like to know if they see any
responsibility to support plant breeding education and if/ how companies do that.
For Dr. Kevin Smith.
1. Under the public funding for plant breeding has declined, how to attract the students
who would like to study at plant breeding.
2. How do the current graduate students get good training if the public funding for their
research projects were cut during their study.
1. Kevin Smith: In your experience working/collaborating with
universities outside of the United States (like your collaboration with the Universidad de
la Republica in Uruguay), have you noticed positive differences in how the public
universities interact with either gov?t agencies or private companies. Follow up: If so,
would it be possible to implement those interactions here in the United States.
2. Carol Deppe and Alan Kapuler: Have you incorporated anything
developed by large companies, like Monsanto, into your personal
breeding programs?
3. One result of privatization is specialization, which can lead to a lack of clarity for
responsibility (for safety). For example, the Hatfield rail crash was blamed on no one
because neither infrastructure or train operating companies took responsibility
for safety. Is this a potential concern for the plant breeding industry if it did become
privatized? How so?
4. For gov't employees: Another potential result of privatization is the govt losing out on
dividends. Does the govt currently return those dividends to further institutional research?
Is this one of the cons of non privatization.
5.For non-industry folk: Are private companies exploiting their
consumers in any way. If so, how? Do you see this as a common trend regionally,
internationally, or specific to US companies?
6. If plant breeding was to go completely public, do you think seed saving would be
allowed? Dr. Carol Deppe
7. What type of future do you think small grains/cereals will have in the private
industries? Private Industry