b'NAPB GROWS TO MEET THE FUTUREThe National Association of Plant Breeders holds its biggest-ever meeting as its growing membership works to tackle the challenges posed by regulatory and climate changes. Marc ZienkiewiczGETTING BIGGERis a challenge that many organizationstegic objectives in light of changes within public sector wish they were faced with.plant breedinglike the recent announcement that the Peggy Ozias-Akins and the organizers of this yearsNational Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is being meeting of National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB)moved out of Washington, D.C. to Kansas City.in Pine Mountain, Georgia, found out first-hand what itsMany NIFA staffersabout two-thirdshave like to facilitate the gathering of a rapidly-growing groupchosen to quit rather than relocate, causing concern that of professionals working to make a difference. NIFA offices will be staffed by skeleton crews that lack We were scrambling a bit when we found out justthe resources needed to do their work.how many registrations were coming in, says Ozias- As a disciplinein terms of sheer numberspublic Akins, plant breeder at the University of Georgia (UGA)sector plant breeding isnt healthy. We need to look to and chair of the organizing committee. Its a great prob- the future and figure out how we can keep public sector lem to have, and its so gratifying to see this group growbreeding healthy and move it forward, says Kantar. The as word gets out about the NAPB. PBCC, struck in 2006, held its annual general meeting as With over 400 people attending the ninth annual meet- part of the event in Pine Mountain.ing of the NAPB from Aug. 25-29, 2019, it was a recordEvery five years we have to decide what our new turnout. With 451 members, the NAPB is also enjoying itsobjectives are, how we promote plant breeding, how to highest membership to-date. As many groups in an arrayensure we continue with this discipline thats fundamental of industries work to simply maintain their numbers, theto human survival. Were in the process of drafting our new NAPB is enjoying continual growth since it was foundedobjectives and finding people who want to take these on.by the Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee (PBCC),One proposed objective is to foster communication which works to advance the interests of public sectoramong public breeders and federal agencies on public plant breeders in the United States and beyond. policy issues, including alerts to existing and emerging By contrast, the NAPB strengthens both public andthreats to agricultural security that affect plant breeding.private sector plant breeding to promote food security,There are some things we will always dolike quality of life and a sustainable future. It represents bothtrying to identify what capacity we have for plant breed-American and Canadian breeders, and while its growthing; keeping track of all the public sector breeders across shows that plant breeding is as important as everper- the country; we will always care about germplasm; we haps more soit also shows that theres a lot of interestwill advocate for plant breeding. But we want to ensure in helping reverse what some see as a decline in publiceveryone knows and cares about it. We have a lot of room sector plant breeding.to do new things beyond what weve traditionally done.According to new PBCC chair Michael Kantar, an asso-ciate professor at the University of Hawaii, the NAPBsBoosting Private Sector Involvement growth comes as the PBCC is developing its new stra- In the spirit of trying new things, the NAPB has estab-6GERMINATION.CA NOVEMBER 2019'