The decline in public research on plant breeding has led to farmers' having fewer choices of seed, according to a report released Oct. 31 by the the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), a farmer-based nonprofit organization based in Pittsboro, N.C., and member of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
“Everything starts with seeds, and the continued growth of sustainable and organic agriculture and local, healthy food systems across the country—along with farmers’ ability to meet the challenges of climate change and food security—depends on this critical first building block,” said Juli Obudzinski, senior policy specialist with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
“Over the past 25 years, there has been a steady decline in investment in public sector breeding programs housed primarily within our nation’s land grant university system and USDA research facilities,” Obudzinski continued.
“This slow atrophy of public funding to support improved plant varieties means that farmers have been left with fewer and fewer seed choices over the years and are ill-prepared to meet 21st century needs,” she said.
“For example, farmers in many regions of the country currently rely on seeds that were bred for other regions of the country or that no longer meet changing climatic growing conditions and pest and disease pressures. Without renewed funding for the development of publicly available plant varieties, our farmers will be at a competitive disadvantage.”
The proceedings include eight scientific papers authored by well-known breeders and researchers in the field, including Bill Tracy, a sweet corn breeder with the University of Wisconsin; Major Goodman, a corn breeder with North Carolina State University; Michael Mazourek, a vegetable breeder with Cornell University; David Ellis, the head of the Genebank Unit at the International Potato Center in Peru; and Charles Brummer, the senior vice president and director of forage improvement at the Noble Foundation.
It also includes a paper by Kathleen Merrigan, the former Agriculture deputy secretary who is executive director for sustainability at the George Washington University.
NSAC and RAFI are both members of the Seeds and Breeds for 21st Century Agriculture Coalition, a collaborative that advocates for increased support for public sector plant and animal breeding research.
Source: www.hagstromreport.com