30 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA SEPTEMBER 2026 That collaboration, she says, has always been one of plant breeding’s greatest strengths. “It takes all sectors to be successful in plant breeding.” One of her priorities during her leadership term will be expanding participation from small and independent seed companies. “I would like to grow the membership and engagement with small and independent seed companies to get more of those professionals here who I think will really benefit,” she says. She believes those organizations may have even more to gain from NAPB than some larger companies because of the net working opportunities and relationships the association fosters. Multitasking Texas A&M university corn breeder Wenwei Xu shared research that illustrates how modern breeding programs are increasingly responding to requests to solve multiple challenges at once. His team’s work spans food safety, nutritional enhance ment, climate resilience and commercial performance. His breeding program focuses on reducing preharvest aflatoxin contamination while increasing anthocyanins and antioxidant content. Aflatoxin is a worldwide problem that affects corn, peanuts, tree nuts and cotton. Because it is carcinogenic, federal regula tions strictly limit acceptable levels in food and feed systems. The challenge extends far beyond human health concerns. For farmers, contaminated grain can become an economic liability. “When corn has high level of aflatoxin, farmers have dif ficulty selling that grain, so eventually it will go into the trash,” he says. “No elevator will take it, so that’s important to develop aflatoxin resistant corn.” Rather than targeting a single aflatoxin gene, Xu’s team is breeding a package of traits that collectively reduce risk. The program selects for drought tolerance, heat tolerance, insect resistance, tighter husk coverage and improved kernel quality. The strategy recognizes that aflatoxin contamina tion develops through the interaction of the environment, the pathogen and the plant itself. “Today there are two effective approaches: one is applying biological control to reduce the fungus in the field. As breed ers, our goal is to improve the plant itself so it can better resist infection over time,” Xu says. But for all the additional traits breeders are attempting to incorporate, the work reinforces a fundamental principle every seed company understands: farmers still prioritize yield. It’s the same ultimate test Rajcan describes: no matter how sophisti cated the science becomes, growers cast the deciding vote. Finding the traits capable of meeting that increasingly demanding standard means breeders may also need to rethink where they search for useful genetics. Xu’s team is doing exactly that. The program incorporates tropical corn, teosinte and Tripsacum, wild relatives that have historically received less attention than elite commercial germ plasm. The University of Guelph’s Istvan Rajcan spoke at this year’s NAPB meeting in Texas as recipient of the Public Sector Impact Award. Katy Martin Rainey of Purdue University is the new president of the NAPB. Hannah Jeffery serves as chair of the NAPB Communications Committee. Mark Sorrels is the recipient of the 2025 NAPB Lifetime Achievement Award.
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