Training and Skills
1) Any panelist - What skills do you believe plant breeders of the future will need? Please
explain the role you see Land Grant Universities playing in ensuring that plant breeders
of the future will have those necessary skills.
2) Dr. Peter Boches - As a 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? In hindsight, what additional training would have been useful? What skills
have not been applicable in your job?
3) Dr. Steve Knapp – What skills do you look for when you hire M.S. and PhD level plant
breeders?
4) Dr. Carol Deppe - 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?
Private and Public sectors
1) Dr. Steve Knapp - As a breeder for the private sector, do you feel you have more or less
freedom than a public sector breeder?
2) Dr. Kevin Smith – What benefits and drawbacks are there for University scientists in the
US working/collaborating with international universities and institutions?
3) 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?
4) Dr. Robbie Waugh – It is my understanding that public sector plant breeding was
effectively eliminated from the English Isles during the Thatcher years. Plant breeders
went to industry, “upstream” to institutes or universities, or sought other employment. In
your opinion, was this a positive or a negative event and what have been the
consequences for plant breeding in the UK?
Funding
1) Any panelist - From my perspective, it looks like our only hope for continued breeding of
plants for which there is no obvious immediate or intermediate-term economic return lies
upon the shoulders of the independent breeders and public universities. What
suggestions do you have for funding such breeding enterprises?
2) Any panelist - How do you see public vs. private funding of graduate student research at
Land Grant Universities shaping the future of plant breeding?
3) Any panelist - 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?
4) Dr. Steve Knapp - Monsanto's business model invests heavily in research and
development, and recoups the expenses through the use and enforcement of intellectual
property. Do you think universities such as OSU would benefit from adopting this model
to fund breeding programs?
Technology
1) Dr. Robbie Waugh - Genomics and informatics has sped up breeding technology
tremendously with systems such as Marker Assisted and Genomic Selection. Although
this technology is extremely beneficial, I am concerned that breeders are losing touch
with the field and whole-plant aspects of their research. Can, and should, breeders stay
on the forefront of technology while also maintaining direct involvement with field-based
research?
2) Dr. Alan Kapuler or Dr. Carol Deppe - How much investment in breeding for organic
food production systems do you believe is warranted to meet current and future world
food needs? And what will be the role of independent breeders, such as yourselves, in
meeting these needs?
3) Any panelist - Much of the technology and infrastructure required for molecular plant
breeding requires financial investments that only large private sector entities can afford.
What is the role of Universities in training plant breeders if they do not have access to the
latest and best equipment and facilities?
4) Any panelist - Are there any breeding tools/techniques/strategies that are better suited to
the public sector than the private sector? Or vice versa?
Role of University Plant Breeding
1) Dr. Alan Kapuler - In 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?
2) Any panelist – In your opinion, how many of the US Land Grant Universities need to
offer graduate training in plant breeding in order to train future plant breeders?
3) Dr. Kevin Smith – Do you believe University scientists can be effective plant breeders
given the competing demands of teaching, fundraising, publication, and service?
4) Dr. Steve Knapp – In your career you have worked in the both the public and private
sectors. Do you believe there is any truth to the assertion that there is a one-way street
from academia to industry? What challenges does one face if wanting to move from
industry to a university faculty position?