b'lished a new Industry Committee, which it hopes will synergize more industry participation.We want to try and bolster interaction between public and private sector scientists. There are some sectors of the industry that have been very active in the NAPB over the years and others less so. The more people we can involve, the better, says Ozias-Akins.Led by past-president Klaus Koehler, the committee will expand the exposure of commercial plant breeding activities to NAPB membership through the creation of opportunities for mentorship, training, sabbaticals and other collaborations.Part of the NAPBs mission regarding mentorship includes the Borlaug Scholars program, which enables attendance of future leaders at the NAPB annual meeting by providing funding to both undergraduate and gradu- Michael Kantar, plant breeder at the University of Hawaii and chair of ate students. The scholarsof which there were 12 thisthe Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee, says working to strengthen year, up from eight the year priorare paired with men- public sector plant breeding is crucial.tors who work with them to help the students figure out their career path. can create targeted diversity); wide crosses (which can Several of this years Borlaug Scholars have hadharness traits from distantly-related species); and micro-experience working for private sector companies duringbiomes (which can provide a source of genetic variation the summer months and beyond, which only strength- that benefits crop performance).ens the NAPBs involvement with the private sector,Its only been over the last 10,000 years or so that adds Ozias-Akins. we may have been in a period of low climate variability, To feed a growing population in the face of climatewhich may have made agriculture as we know it possible. change, combining advocacy with communication andThe agriculture of the future will be very different, and education helps us get that message out. we need to think over the even longer term than what weve been used to.Facing Climate Change Meeting attendees were treated to tours of two A big theme of this years meeting in Georgia was adapt- University of Georgia campusesGriffin and Tifton. ing to future concerns such as climate change, whichUGA plant breeding programs have developed over 400 presents a variety of challenges for breeders. Deliveringcommercialized plant cultivars since 1990. Of those, 40% the keynote address this year was Jeffrey Bennetzen, aare agronomic crop cultivars, 30% are cultivars of horti-geneticist at UGA. His talk addressed the need for plantcultural food crops, 27% are ornamental plant cultivars, breeders to introduce new sources of genetic variation inand 4% are turfgrass cultivarsthe latter having wide-order to breed the crops of the future. spread usage on golf courses and athletic fields through-He asked audience members to raise their hands ifout the southern United States and in several countries, they thought theyd be growing the same crops in thenotably on athletic fields hosting World Cup, Olympic, same places two decades from now. Only a few handsand Super Bowl events. went up. As explained by UGA turfgrass breeder Paul Raymer, Plant breeding has accomplished some amazingpublic concerns over climate change are creeping into the things over the past 75 years, but its occurred at a cost,turfgrass realm, with demand for drought-tolerant varie-Bennetzen said.ties in the rise. He went on to show how, according to the UnitedEvery market area has different demands. Right now, Nations, the number of undernourished people world- homeowners want something they dont have to water a wide has gone up every year since 2015. Almost onelot and mow as often. All these requirements add up and billion people are now considered malnourished aroundwhat we wind up with are a lot of small breeding pro-the globe. grams that look a lot different from most others, he said. At the same time, the rest of the world consumesAs turfgrass breeders, were decades behind other far less protein per capita than Europeans and Northcrops in terms of genetics and genomics. Were making Americans. Inputs like water, fertilizers and high-qualityprogress is applying those toolstheyre a lot more land are becoming less available and/or more expensive,affordable and youre going to see them more widely he noted. adopted in the future. Add to this the effects of climate change, and plant breeders everywhere have their work cut out for them in an effort to bring genetic diversity back to crop species. According to Bennetzen, plant breeders have threeFor video and podcast interviews from this years NAPB meeting, powerful tools at their disposalgenome editing (whichvisit seedworld.com/napb-2019/8GERMINATION.CA NOVEMBER 2019'