Annual/Termination Reports:

[02/09/2007] [07/19/2008] [09/28/2009] [12/09/2010] [08/03/2011] [11/27/2012] [09/09/2013] [09/15/2015]

Report Information

Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

The SAES-422 (report and minutes) section should have the following 7 reports added to it (included are the links to the reports on my website):

Excellence in Science and Technology

http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccscience.html


A Globally Competitive Agricultural System

no report;


Competitiveness, Sustainability and Quality of Life in Rural America

http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccrural.html


Safe and Secure Food and Fiber System

http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccsafe.html


Healthy, Well nourished Population

http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbcchealthy.html


Harmony Between Agriculture and the Environment

http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccenvironment.html


Education and Training of Plant Breeders

http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbcceducation.html

Accomplishments

Publications

http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccposters2007/pbccposters2007.html

Impact Statements

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Report Information

Participants

See attached list of participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

The 2008 Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee (SCC-080) meeting was held June 16-18 in Des Moines, IAA. The main topics were the improvement of support for public plant breeding, and building partnerships with related groups. Invited speakers and discussion groups were used to develop ideas and solutions for improved funding of public plant breeding and graduate education. White papers have been written for most of our seven subcommittees, and one-page summaries will follow soon after. We are now discussing the level of support needed at the federal level to support our discipline.

New officers were elected, and are listed below. There are now three officers per subcommittee as our new by-laws require.


The elections included a vote for a new name for the public outreach part of our committee. The suggestions are listed below (the count now includes votes turned in at the registration desk during the business meeting). The executive committee voted unanimously for the name: National Association of Plant Breeders (an initiative of the Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee).


Officers

- Stephen Baenziger, Chair (pbaenziger1@unl.edu)

- Phil Simon, Vice chair (psimon@wisc.edu)

- Todd Wehner, Secretary (todd_wehner@ncsu.edu)


Representatives

- Mark Hussey, Administrative advisor (mhussey@tamu.edu)

- Anne Marie Thro, CSREES representative (athro@csrees.usda.gov)

- Kay Simmons, USDA-ARS representative (Kay.Simmons@Ars.Usda.Gov)

- Randy Johnson, US Forest Service advisor (randyjohnson@fs.fed.us)

Liaisons

- Ronnie Coffman, International Plant Breeding Centers (wrc2@cornell.edu)

- Bill Tracy, Private Non-Profit Breeders (wftracy@wisc.edu)

- Steve McKeand, Forestry Plant Breeders (Steve_McKeand@NCSU.Edu)

- Herb Ohm, CSSA Plant Breeders (hohm@purdue.edu)

- Linda Wessel-Beaver, ASHS Plant Breeders (lwesselbeaver@yahoo.com)

- Greg Tolla, NCCPB (Greg.Tolla@Seminis.com)


Subcommittees

Excellence in Science and Technology
- David Stelly, Past chair (stelly@tamu.edu)

- Craig Yencho, Chair (Craig_Yencho@NCSU.Edu)

- Silvia Cianzio, Vice chair (scianzio@iastate.edu)

- Joshua Udall, Secretary (jaudall@byu.edu)

Globally Collaborative Agricultural System

- Rob Bertram, Past chair (rbertram@usaid.gov)

- Abdullah Jaradat, Chair (beth.burmeister@ars.usda.gov)

- Tom Blake, Vice chair (blake@montana.edu)

- Jodi Scheffler, Secretary (Jodi.Scheffler@ARS.USDA.GOV)

Competitiveness, Sustainability and Quality of Life in Rural America

- Marcelo Carena, Past chair (marcelo.carena@ndsu.edu)

- Keith Woeste, Chair (Woeste@purdue.edu)

- Sterling Blanche, Vice chair (sblanche@agcenter.lsu.edu)

- Karen Moldenhauer, Secretary (kmolden@uark.edu)

Safe and Secure Food and Fiber System

- Travis Frey, Past chair (travis.james.frey@monsanto.com)

- Dave Kendra, Chair (David.Kendra@ars.usda.gov)

- Brian Scully, Vice chair (scully@ifas.ufl.edu)

- Star (Yanxin) Gao, Secretary (starr@vt.edu)

Healthy, Well-nourished Population

- Linda Pollak, Past chair (lmpollak@iastate.edu)

- Michael Havey, Chair (mjhavey@wisc.edu)

- Surinder Gulia, Vice chair (gulias@fvsu.edu)

- Shelley Jansky, Secretary (shjansky@wisc.edu)

Harmony Between Agriculture and the Environment

- Charlie Brummer, Past chair (brummer@uga.edu)

- Richard Pratt, Chair (pratt.3@osu.edu)

- Randy Johnson, Vice chair (randyjohnson@fs.fed.us)

- Seth Murray, Secretary (scm33@cornell.edu)

Education and Training of Plant Breeders

- Thomas Stalker, Past chair (Tom_stalker@ncsu.edu)

- David Knauft, Chair (dknauft@uga.edu)

- Rita Mumm, Vice chair (ritamumm@uiuc.edu)

- Mitch Tuinstra, Secretary (drmitch@purdue.edu)

For more meeting minutes go to :
http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccmain08min.html

Accomplishments

We finalized a number of reports that illustrate the impact of plant breeding on stakeholders lives and developed our strategy for the next year. The reports can be found on our webpage: http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccmain.html .<br /> <br />

Publications

All are electronic publications: http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccmain.html

Impact Statements

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Report Information

Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

Publications

Impact Statements

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Report Information

Participants

see attachment

Brief Summary of Minutes

NAPB New Officers: Todd Wehner, President; Rita Mumm, Vice President; David Stelly, Secretary; Shelley Jansky, Treasurer; Seth Murray, Web Editor; Past President (to begin in 2011.

PBCC New Officers: Phil Simon, Chair; Mike Havey, Vice Chair.

New subcommittee leadership:
Grand Challenges: Mary Lou Arpaia, Chair; Vice Chair position open due to Mike Havey being elected to Vice Chair; PBCC Secretary to be identified.

Science, Technology, and Informatics: Liz Lee, Chair; Mitch McGrath, Vice Chair; Ross Whetten, Secretary.

Communications & Outreach: Allen Van Deynze, Chair; Linda Wessel-Beaver, Vice Chair; Maria Salinas-Fernandez, Secretary; Shelby Repinski, Graduate Student Representative.

Awards: Karen Moldenhauer, Chair; Brooks Blanche, Vice Chair; Secretary to be identified.

Education: Donn Cummings, Chair; Jamie Sherman, Vice Chair; Pat Brown (UIUC) Secretary; graduate student representative to be identified.

Representatives and Liaisons continue to serve another year.


Minutes of Business Meeting of the 4th Annual Plant Breeding Workshop of PBCC, August 15, 2010, Johnston, IA: The PBCC Business Meeting was opened by Phil Simon, Chair, PBCC. Tabare Abadie of Pioneer delivered a warm welcome on behalf of the meeting host, Pioneer Hi-Bred International.

Todd Wehner asked the constituency to consider creation of the NAPB. The vote taken was unanimously in favor of this motion. Those desiring membership in NAPB were invited to star their names in the registration key at the main desk in the meeting hall.

With results of elections and the progression of positions according to the bylaws, the EC Committee of NAPB/PBCC includes the following:

New officers were elected for NAPB and PBCC.

Subcommittee break-out sessions were held and reports were delivered when the body reconvened.

Shelby Repinski reported on the results of the Delphi Study coordinated by UC-Davis to determine the curriculum content, skills, experiences, and specialties important in the education and training of future plant breeders.

The EC recognizes the need to be able to provide spot-on information in response to various types of requests on very short notice. Because the EC must be empowered to request and gather information as needed, a rapid response group will be formed to promptly identify experts on various topics. The rapid response group may be a part of the Communications Subcommittee. A model for 1-pagers will be sought from Karl Glasener (ASA).

Future Annual Meetings of the NAPB/PBCC will be held concurrently:
2011 in College Station, TX; TAMU host. May 23-25, 2011
2012 in Indianapolis, IN; Dow AgroSciences host. Dates tbd.
2013. An offer to host from University of Florida/Tampa was received from Barry Tillman. Suggested timing in mid-February to March or October to November.

2010 Awards were presented by Jodi Scheffler:
Dr. James (Jim) Brewbaker of the University of Hawaii was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for the 50 years of dedication to breeding corn and sorghum in the tropics.

Dr. Yanqi Wu, a forage and turfgrass breeder from Oklahoma State University received the 2010 Early Career Plant Breeder Award.

Other special recognition was given to the following for their outstanding contributions to the PBCC and the newly created NAPB: Ken Frey; Ann Marie Thro; Stephen Baenziger.

The meeting was closed with summary comments by Stephen Baenziger and parting remarks by Stephen Smith.

Accomplishments

1) Surveyed plant breeders in the U.S. to determine their needs that could be addressed in a federally-supported granting program. A survey was sent to approximatley 750 plant breeders in August, 2009, to identify the research areas most important for continued progress in U.S. plant breeding. 143 responses were received and 133 of these included results that could be tabulated. The top 3 categories of plant breeders' needs were: (1) Germplasm characterization, colllection, and exchange; (2) Marker development and mapping, including sequencing and establishment of centralized marker generation facilities; (3) Plant phenotyping database development, including establishing standardized methods. <br /> <br /> Other important needs were: (1) Cataloging of plant germplasm and genomics resources; (2) Development of quantiative methods and tools; (3) Prebreeding of exotic germplasm.<br /> <br /> 2) Developed an ASK statement to request support of an initiative for plant breeding training.<br /> <br /> 3) Developed website for Plantbreeding.com and Plantbreeding.org to post PBCC and NAPB-related activities.<br /> <br /> 4) Developed, to various stages of completion, white papers and one-page documents on Excellence in Science and Technology, A Globally Collaborative Agricultural System Competitiveness, Sustainability and Quality of Life in Rural America, Safe and Secure Food and Fiber System, Healthy, Well-nourished Population, Harmony Between Agriculture and the Environment, Education and Training of Plant Breeders.<br /> <br /> 5) Developed and presented awards to an early career plant breeder, and a lifetime achievement plant breeding award.<br /> <br /> 6) Todd Wehner represented NAPB and PBCC at a USDA NIFA Stakeholders Meeting in Washington, DC.<br /> <br /> 7) Established a framework for structure and organization of the National Association of Plant Breeders, and voted to establish NAPB at the annual PBCC meeting.<br /> <br /> 8) Held our annual meeting in Johnston, Iowa, August 15-17, 2010<br />

Publications

All are electronic publications: http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccmain.html

Impact Statements

1. See accomplishments section

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Report Information

Participants

See attached copy of participants list

Brief Summary of Minutes

See attached meeting summary

Accomplishments

1) Developed a one-page document on long-term maintenance of plant breeding infrastructure. (See publications section for this document)<br /> <br /> 2) Expanded web site for Plantbreeding.com and Plantbreeding.org to post PBCC and NAPB-related activities<br /> <br /> 3) Continued development of white papers and one-page documents on Excellence in Science and Technology, A Globally Collaborative Agricultural System Competitiveness, Sustainability and Quality of Life in Rural America, Safe and Secure Food and Fiber System, Healthy, Well-nourished Population, Harmony Between Agriculture and the Environment, Education and Training of Plant Breeders. A document was published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment on the impact of plant breeding on rural life. (See publications section for this document)<br /> <br /> 4) Solicited nominations and voted on awards as early career plant breeder (Dr. Brooks Blanche, Louisiana State University) and a lifetime achievement in plant breeding (Dr. Jules Janick, Purdue University)<br /> <br /> 5) Continued to define a framework for structure and organization of the National Association of Plant Breeders<br /> <br /> 6) Held our annual meeting in College Station Texas May 23-25, 2011<br /> <br />

Publications

All electronic publications of one-pagers, white papers, and minutes of conference calls are posted at http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/gpb/pr/pbccmain.html

Impact Statements

1. See accomplishments section

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Report Information

Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

Summary from the minutes from the Business Meeting of the 5th Annual Plant Breeding Workshop of the PBCC August 6th, 2012, 8 AM to12 noon, Indianapolis, IN

The PBCC Business Meeting was opened by Mike Havey, Chair of PBCC.

New officers were elected for NAPB and PBCC.

African Plant Breeding students and delegates were introduced.

A proposal for funding a study on the Plant Breeding Capacity was presented.

Subcommittee break-out sessions were held, new officers elected, and reports were delivered when the main body reconvened.
Future Annual Meetings of the NAPB/PBCC will be held concurrently and are:
" 2013 will be at the University of Florida, Tampa June 3-5th, 2013.
" 2015 will be in Minneapolis-sponsored by Syngenta Inc.
2011 Awards were presented by Brooks Blanche
" early career plant breeder (Dr. Michael Gore, USDA/ARS, Maricopa, AZ)
" a lifetime achievement in plant breeding (Dr. Charles Stuber, NC State University
" Plant Breeding Impact Award (Dr. Marvin Boerboom, Monsanto co.)
Scientific and education program was opened by Dr. Kat Simmons (USDA/ARS) and focused on Education in Plant Breeding; Application of Genomics to horticultural, perennial and agronomic crops in interactive tours to Purdue University, Becks hybrids, Ag-Reliant and Dow Agro Sciences (host) highlighting research in the region. See attached agenda for list of presentations.

New officers for National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) and Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee (PBCC):
NAPB
David Stelly, President
Liz Lee, Vice President
Barry Tillman, Secretary
Shelley Jansky, Treasurer
Seth Murray and Jim Hancock, Web Editors
Tom Stalker, Archivist
Rita Mumm, Past President

PBCC
Allen Van Deynze, Chair
Pat Byrne, Vice-Chair
Jamie Sherman, Secretary
Mike Havey, Past-Chair

Subcommittee leadership:
"Grand Challenges
o Keith Woeste, Chair
o David Isenhour, Vice Chair
o Kathy Rainey
"Science, Technology, and Informatics
o Ross Whetten, Chair
o Jin Xiong
o Shahrayar Kianan
o Mitch McGrath, Past-Chair
"Communications & Outreach
o Maria Salas-Fernandez, Chair
o Wayne Smith, Vice Chair
o Robin Goose, Secretary
o Kari Hugie, Graduate Student Representative
"Education
o David Francis, Chair
o Vice-Chair , vacant
o Shelby Repinski, Secretary
"Awards Panel
o Brooks Blanche, Chair

Accomplishments

PBCC accomplishments  2011-2012<br /> 1) Developed a 1-voice messages and foundational goals for PBCC and NAPB, namely:<br /> a. Sustaining Society through Science and Innovation<br /> b. Sustaining Society through an Educated Workforce<br /> 2) Developed a pamphlet and distributed at American Seed Trade meetings and National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders.<br /> 3) Coordinated with Crops Science Society and American Seed Trade to develop common goals for Agriculture and education.<br /> 4) Attended Eucarpia (European Breeding Association) annual meeting to coordinate global goals and development for education and development of plant breeding.<br /> 5) Expanded and maintained current web site for Plantbreeding.com and Plantbreeding.org to post PBCC and NAPB related activities including monthly meeting minutes<br /> 6) Published quarterly newsletters updating membership on latest events, publications and webinars and PBCC activities. Coordinated with Plant Breeding Newsletter by Clair Hershey<br /> 7) Continued development of white papers and on-page documents on Excellence in Science and Technology, A Globally Collaborative Agricultural System Competitiveness, Sustainability and Quality of Life in Rural America, Safe and Secure Food and Fiber System, Healthy, Well-nourished Population, Harmony Between Agriculture and the Environment, Education and Training of Plant Breeders. Two papers have been published thus far on plant breeding and the Environment (Brummer et al., 2011) and Plant breeding and Rural Development (Woeste et al., 2010); two more on developing curriculum based on the UC Davis Delphi Study (Miller, 2011; Repinski et al., 2011) and one on research goals for the seed industry (Miller et al., 2010).<br /> 8) Provided input for review of the USDA germplasm program.<br /> 9) Solicited nominations and voted on awards (see meeting) <br /> 10) Continued to define a framework for structure and organization of the National Association of Plant Breeders which was incorporated as a non-profit with the state of Wisconsin.<br /> 11) Held our annual meeting in Indianapolis, IN, August 6-8th, 2012.<br /> 12) Worked with SeedWorld to develop 30 video interviews and press releases for the NAPB and PBCC joint meeting in 2011. <br /> 13) Worked with Seedworld on two press releases to summarize the 2012 annual meeting including 10 audio interviews available at seedworld.com and plantbreeding.org.<br />

Publications

Brummer, E.C., W.T. Barber, S.M. Collier, T.S. Cox, R. Johnson, S.C. Murray, R.T. Olsen, R.C. Pratt, and A.M. Thro. 2011. Plant breeding for harmony between agriculture and the environment. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 9:561-568.<br /> Miller, J.K., E.M. Herman, M. Jahn, and K.J. Bradford. 2010. Strategic research, education and policy goals for seed science and crop improvement. Plant Science 179:645-652.<br /> Miller, J.K., Repinski, S.L., Hayes, K.N., Bliss, F.A., Trexler, C.J. . 2011. Designing Graduate-Level Plant Breeding Curriculum: A Delphi Study of Private Sector Stakeholder Opinion. Journal of Natural Resources & Life Science Education 40:82-90.<br /> Repinski, S.L., K.N. Hayes, J.K. Miller, C.J. Trexler, and F.A. Bliss. 2011. Plant Breeding Graduate Education: Opinions about Critical Knowledge, Experience, and Skill Requirements from Public and Private Stakeholders Worldwide. Crop Science 51:2325-2336.<br /> Woeste, K.E., S.B. Blanche, K.A. Moldenhauer, and C.D. Nelson. 2010. Plant Breeding and Rural Development in the United States. Crop Sci. 50:1625-1632.<br />

Impact Statements

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Participants

The 7th Annual PBCC Meeting was held in conjunction with the 3rd Annual National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) Meeting in Tampa, FL, June 2-5, 2013. The meeting, entitled Positioning Plant Breeding for the Future, was hosted by the University of Florida. It attracted 164 attendees, including public and private sector plant breeding professionals, and a large number of plant breeding graduate students. The PBCC/NAPB leadership decided not to make the attendee list public, out of respect for privacy. In future years, the registration form will ask registrants to indicate whether their information can be shared with others or posted on a web site.

Brief Summary of Minutes

See attached summary of the joint PBCC/NAPB meeting.

Accomplishments

1) Installed the new officers and committee chairs of PBCC and NAPB. They are as follows:<br /> <br /> <br /> PBCC:<br /> Patrick Byrne, Chair<br /> Jamie Sherman, Vice-Chair<br /> Mike Gore, Secretary<br /> Allen Van Deynze, Past-Chair<br /> Administrative Advisor, Eric Young<br /> NIFA National Program Leader, Ann Marie Thro<br /> <br /> <br /> NAPB:<br /> Elizabeth Lee, President<br /> Barry Tillman, Vice-President<br /> David Francis, Secretary<br /> Shelley Jansky, Treasurer<br /> Seth Murray and Jim Hancock, Web Editors<br /> Tom Stalker, Archivist<br /> David Stelly, Past President<br /> <br /> <br /> Communications & Outreach Committee:<br /> Wayne Smith, Chair<br /> Robin Goose, Vice-Chair<br /> Kari Hugie, Graduate Student Representative<br /> <br /> <br /> Education Committee:<br /> David Francis, Chair<br /> Shelby Ellison, Vice-Chair<br /> Heather Merk, Secretary <br /> <br /> <br /> Membership Committee:<br /> Donn Cummings, Chair<br /> Don Jones, Vice-Chair<br /> Aaron Lorenz, Secretary<br /> <br /> <br /> Advocacy Committee: Bill Tracy, Chair<br /> <br /> <br /> Awards Panel: Phil Simon, Chair<br /> <br /> <br /> 2) Planned, organized, and held the 7th Annual PBCC Meeting in conjunction with the 3rd Annual National Association of Plant Breeders Meeting in Tampa, FL, June 2-5, 2013. The meeting, entitled Positioning Plant Breeding for the Future, was hosted by the University of Florida. It attracted 164 attendees, including public and private sector plant breeding professionals, and a large number of plant breeding graduate students. The meeting format included plenary talks, breakout sessions for committee meetings, poster sessions, field tours, announcement of awards, and a banquet. <br /> <br /> <br /> 3) Worked with SeedWorld to develop short video interviews at the PBCC/NAPB joint meeting in 2013. They will be used in a variety of ways to promote the two organizations and the plant breeding profession.<br /> <br /> <br /> 4) Continued to define a framework for the structure and organization of the National Association of Plant Breeders and its relationship to the PBCC. As the two organizations mature, their respective roles and responsibilities are being clarified.<br /> <br /> <br /> 5) Provided oral and written input to the Plant Breeding Stakeholder Listening Session, organized by USDAs Plant Breeding Working Group on August 15, 2013. Coordinated this effort with the Crop Science Society of America and the American Seed Trade Association to deliver a consistent message to USDA leadership. Among the major points made by PBCC were the need to continue providing federalcapacity funds for public plant breeding programs, especially for minor and specialty crops, and to continue support for graduate education in plant breeding.<br /> <br /> <br /> 6) Began compiling success stories of public plant breeding programs, by soliciting input from the state representatives of PBCC. Stories are being compiled at http://passel.unl.edu/communities/pbcc.<br /> <br /> <br /> 7) Expanded and maintained the organizations current website (Plantbreeding.com and Plantbreeding.org) to post PBCC- and NAPBrelated activities, including monthly meeting minutes. Appointed a committee to design and implement enhancements to the website.<br /> <br /> <br /> 8) Published quarterly newsletters updating membership on PBCC activities and latest events, publications, and webinars of interest to plant breeders.<br /> 9) Distributed pamphlets about the PBCC/NAPB at the Crop Science Society of America annual meeting in October, the American Seed Trade Association meeting in December, and the Plant and Animal Genome meeting in January.<br /> <br /> <br /> 10) Solicited nominations and voted on awards - see point (2) above. <br /> <br /> <br /> 11) Began planning for the 2014 meeting, which will be hosted by Syngenta in Minneapolis Aug. 5-8, 2014.<br />

Publications

Impact Statements

1. Raised awareness about the importance of plant breeding to the quantity and quality of the U.S. food supply.
2. Improved communication between public and private sector plant breeders.
3. Provided recognition to plant breeders and to plant breeding graduate students for their contributions to the profession.

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Participants

Kate Evans, David Francis, Ksenija Gasic, Kim Garland-Campbell Golnaz Komaei Koma, Peggy Ozias-Akins, Cameron Pearce, Phil Simon, Narinder Singh, Shree Singh, Gayle Volk, Eric Young, Pat Byrne

Brief Summary of Minutes

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Breakout Session on Objective 1, Plant Breeding Capacity

Objective 1: Collect, analyze, and disseminate information about the U.S. plant breeding effort in both public and private sectors, to include human capacity and access to enabling knowledge, technologies, germplasm, and infrastructure

Attendance: Fred Bliss, Wayne Smith, Trevor Rife and Jamie Sherman. Bill Tracy joined after the IP session ended.

Actions items:
1) Modify Fred Bliss’s current instrument to create a survey that will gather information about plant breeding capacity.

2) Once the instrument is created, send to a few in PBCC to review and for IRB exemption through Montana State University (we believe due to the nature of this survey we will not require a full IRB review).

3) Using Bill Tracy’s list of over 400 public plant breeders, send out survey.

4) We plan to organize results by Crop Advisory Committee groups to ensure coverage of all crops.

5) Wayne Smith is approaching some possible contributors to support this effort (e.g., large seed companies, ASTA), since there is concern NAPB is not yet ready to contribute.

6) Modify the instrument for use in querying industry.

7) We hope to set up a database for the information and a system so that this survey can be regularly repeated.

Breakout Session for Objective 2, Plant Genetic Resources

Objective 2: Promote the conservation, characterization, and utilization of plant genetic resources and access to those resources for plant breeding.

Attendance: Kate Evans, David Francis, Ksenija Gasic, Kim Garland-Campbell Golnaz Komaei Koma, Peggy Ozias-Akins, Cameron Pearce, Phil Simon, Narinder Singh, Shree Singh, Gayle Volk, Eric Young, Pat Byrne

Discussion:
1. Earlier this summer, Eric Young requested that PBCC be granted liaison status on the National Plant Germplasm Coordinating Committee. The request was granted, so PBCC must now appoint its representative. David Baltensperger, who is the rep of the National Association of Plant Breeders on the NPGCC, stated the committee’s desire that the PBCC rep be actively engaged in plant breeding.

2. A symposium proposal on ‘Unlocking plant genetic diversity for food and nutritional security’ was submitted by Pat Byrne, Ann Marie Thro, and Wayne Smith on behalf of PBCC. The proposal was accepted (with modifications), and will be scheduled during the AAAS annual meeting in Washington, Feb. 11-15, 2016. Future symposia should be considered in conjunction with the Crop Science Society of America and American Society for Horticultural Science.

3. Regarding the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, it was felt that a useful role for PBCC would be to provide background information on the treaty to PBCC members. The American Seed Trade Association has prepared background documents on the topic, and analyses are likely also available from other sources. Eric Young will send information on the status of attempts to gain support for the treaty from State Ag Experiment Stations.

4. There is a critical need for increased long-term funding for phenotyping, population development, and pre-breeding of plant genetic resources. Funding to Crop Germplasm Committees for phenotyping has been stagnant or declining. In many cases the CGC’s need to update their priority lists for trait evaluation. A ‘white paper’ on the need for more funding for plant genetic resources was proposed and endorsed by the group.

Actions items:
1. Pat Byrne will discuss with the PBCC leadership the procedure for seeking nominations and appointing a rep to the National Plant Germplasm Coordinating Committee.

2. Eric Young will send information on the International Treaty.

3. Phil Simon and Gayle Volk will communicate with Peter Bretting (coordinator of the U.S. Plant Germplasm System) on the status of CGC funding. They will also take the lead in brainstorming for a white paper on the need for increased phenotyping/pre-breeding of plant genetic resources.

Breakout session for Objective 3, Intellectual Property

Objective 3: Identify Best Management Practices for public sector intellectual property protection to encourage the creation and distribution of improved crops for a broad range of needs and opportunities.

Attendance: Bill Tracy, Julia Piaskowski, Tom Koch, Marymar Butruille, Barry Tillman, Klaus Kohler

Discussion:
1. Two major problems are that 1) each University has different IP policies (problems with freedom to operate), and 2) no royalties flow back to the program (public programs). University technology transfer offices don't recognize this problem and can sometimes take all the funds.

2. A survey of public plant breeding programs will quantify the IP situation by breeder, crop, institution, etc.

3. Can we create a "best practices for IP in public universities" guide? Barry Tillman will serve as a guide on this. University of Florida has a very good model of managing plant improvement IP. Ag school is the unique holder of utility patents. Strong team for patent enforcement.

4. Plant breeding is uniquely dependent on royalties to support their R&D.

5. There's considerable overlap between Fred Bliss's work, NAPB and PBCC. We need better integration - can we join forces - stronger organizer with more resources (people, their time, etc.).

6. USDA has organized a short informational session on IPR at the 2015 CSSA meetings (Div C1 and C8), with the PVPO and USPTO. Wed Nov 18, 1:30 – 2:30 PM. We hope this will be of service as background information to provide one and all with an accurate starting point. After the informative presentations there will be a moderated panel and some Q&A time. Suggestions for panelists, or suggested questions, are welcome. Alas there is no budget, so suggested panelists would have to be attending with other funding. They should be knowledgeable of IPR and tech transfer mechanisms, and should understand that USDA is limited to providing information.

Action items:
1. Bill Tracy is leading the project (with a grant to do a survey) - so let's support this work. Those results can be used to draft a set of BMP's for IP or a white paper (or something else). The survey team will talk with stakeholders and prepare a synthesis of results.

2. The survey: how many public sector breeders exist, their crops, cost of to run program, funding sources.

3. Creating a database of public breeders. Adrienne Shelton put together a list of 380 public sector breeders. We can make this a live database on the NAPB website. .

4. Create educational resources regarding IP. Invite an IP expert (a lawyer) to discuss different IP options and how to manage IP in general. How does the land grant mission apply to IP agreements? In some cases, the tech transfer agreements for sharing germplasm are overly limiting.

5. Can we summarize this work on the NAPB website to generate interest and awareness? Bill Tracy can talk with the Exec Committee about this.

6. Expected outcomes:
• Survey underway.
• Breeder database posted on NAPB website.
• Salient points of the issue and the committee's work summarized on the NAPB website.
• IP workshop scheduled at next year's meeting.

Breakout session for Objective 4, Private-Public Collaboration

Objective 4: Optimize opportunities for public-private collaboration in plant breeding research and education, including continuing education for plant breeders.

Attendance: Thomas Lubberstedt, David Baltensperger, Stephen Baenziger, Mike Havey, Don Blackburn, Anne Marie Thro

Discussion:
1. Internships were seen as realistic and desirable tool to increase private–public collaboration. For undergraduate students, internships in industry provide hands-on exposure to plant breeding, and in addition give students an opportunity to experience plant breeding in practical breeding programs of potential future employers. For graduate students timing of internships is critical to avoid conflicts with busy summer activities. There are opportunities to address this issue in companies, for example, internships in winter nurseries or for crops with different peak periods. There is a need for a “best practice protocol” agreed upon by private and public entities to ensure a high quality experience to students and to stimulate promotion of internships both by universities and industry. If successful, more internships will increase the pool of students interested in plant breeding.

2. Iowa State University is currently in the process of hiring a lecturer, who will be charged to establish core competencies in plant breeding (critical skills and knowledge) to help revise the ISU plant breeding curriculum in close collaboration with an Ag Education expert. While this is mostly focusing on disciplinary competencies, it was pointed out that soft skills (e.g., communication ability) and understanding of plant breeding as business (economic perspective) are also important competencies of high interest to breeding companies as main employers of plant breeding students. Those will have to be taken into account when defining core competencies in a plant breeding education. Better understanding and definition of core competencies (which evolve over time) will help to prepare students for their future jobs. Moreover, these core competencies will enable feedback from possible future employers and impact curriculum development at universities.

3. The emerging Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) was seen as the most urgent target to develop collaborative research proposals between public universities (together with companies) and organizations. It will be important to connect with / impact decision makers of FFAR. This is currently the most promising route for funded public-private research proposals.

Actions items:
1. 2-page white papers will be developed for each of the above-listed three topics sequentially with 1 month each for 4.1 (deadline Dec. 1, 2015), 4.2 (Feb. 1, 2016), and 4.3 (Nov. 15, 2016). Each white paper will include an action plan.

2. Leaders/coordinators for those three white papers are Stephen Baenziger (4.1), Thomas Lubberstedt (4.2), and Don Blackburn (4.3). All participants of this break out group listed above (except Ann Marie, who will be informed about progress) will participate in preparing all three white papers.

3. This will be an open process, to which other persons are welcome to contribute. In addition, we will invite experts to help preparing particular white papers:
• 4.1 Mike Havey; a number of private sector contacts suggested
• 4.2 Fred Bliss, Heather Merck
• 4.3 Donn Cummings, “Person knowledgeable about funding opportunities”

Breakout session for Objective 5, Communication

Objective 5. Foster communication among public plant breeders and federal agencies on public policy issues, including alerts to existing and emerging threats to agricultural security that are relevant to plant breeding.

Attendance: Michael Gore, Amy Iezzoni, Jim McFerson, Richard Pratt, David Stelly

Discussion:
1. Need to identify what are the existing and emerging threats to agricultural security as it relates to plant breeding.

2. More specifically, need to determine if future limitations on access to transgenic and genome editing technologies for plant breeding is an existing or emerging threat.

3. More specifically, need to determine which disease, pest, and/or environmental factors are the major threats to specific crops.

Action items:
1. Send requests to all the USDA-ARS crop germplasm committees for a list of major threats for each crop. M. Gore will contact Peter Bretting, USDA–ARS Senior National Program Leader for Plant Germplasm and Genomes, for contacts of all the crop germplasm committees.

2. Send requests to all the SAES Directors for a list of major threats for crops associated with their stakeholders. A. Iezzoni will talk with her SAES Director to see how the questions should be focused to most readily extract salient information. The communication subcommittee will develop a survey template to extract this salient information that can be delivered along with other surveys disseminated by the “Breeding capacity survey” to SAES directors.

3. Develop a working relationship with the “Alliance for Science” (http://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/) at Cornell University to make available evidence-based resources for SAES Directors and public breeders that can help them effectively communicate biotechnology with stakeholders and the public if they so choose or need. M. Gore has started a dialogue with Sarah Davidson Evanega, the director of the project at Cornell University. PBCC is already being included in the “Alliance for Science” strategy and thinking. It is important to note that PBCC is not taking a position but helping to provide access to evidence-based resources.

Accomplishments

Publications

Impact Statements

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