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In a world without plant breeding, wild plants would support a population of a few hundred million people. Today's population of more than six billion far exceeds that number. We have kept up with this growth through the skill of both ancient and modern plant breeders. Today, plant breeding is continual because change is continual as global population continues to grow; natural and economic circumstances change constantly; and consumer needs and preferences change. Plants we depend on for food, materials, energy, and beauty must be constantly adapted for optimum performance in these new circumstances. CSREES/land-grant partnerships are in the forefront of new research in plant breeding. They develop and use new tools and techniques in the fields of quantitative and molecular genetics and genomics. They are part of the world's largest plant genetic resources system. Together, they provide new varieties of more than a hundred different crops, tailored to a wide range of agricultural systems, environments, and consumers.
Plant Breeding and National Goals for U.S. Agriculture
Plant breeding contributes to national goals for agriculture that benefit all of us every day. Benefits from advances in genetics, genomics, and genetic resources also reach us through plant breeding.
A Healthy, Well-Nourished Population
Plant breeding is the foundation of an affordable food supply. It makes possible affordable fruits and vegetables, abundant staple foods, and feeds for producing nutrient-dense meat and milk. In the future, plant breeding will deliver scientific advances that make preventive health care a part of daily diets.
A Safe and Secure Food System
Plant breeding is the knowledge that delivers robust crops capable of withstanding or recovering from unknown future pests, diseases or climate changes that could threaten food security. Plant breeding will provide the crops needed to produce food locally, if our transport networks are ever disrupted. Plant breeding provides the food reserves that allow governments to meet emergencies.
An Agricultural System That Can Compete in the Global Economy
Competitive agriculture requires continual access to efficient, high-quality crop varieties. Plant breeding is, for the foreseeable future, the only source of these varieties; steady investment in plant breeding is the only way to ensure that the right varieties are ready at the right time. Plant breeding differentiates agriculture, which allows producers of the same crops to specialize in different characteristics. Differentiating agriculture adds value and competitive advantages for producers and countries.
Economic Opportunities for Rural Populations
Plant breeding is the avenue for delivering, in useable forms, the research advances that can add value to agricultural production or create new products. These advances would not reach the public otherwise. Plant breeding will be the delivery technology for a "back to the future" bio-based economy of renewable resources for energy and industry--for example, from fast-growing trees and grasses or cassava. At the same time, plant breeding will be needed to keep crop productivity high, so that food production remains adequate despite competition for land area.
Harmony Between Agriculture and the Environment
Plant breeding will merge advances in environmental science and genomics to develop crops that provide specific environmental benefits, such as pollutant trapping and improving water and air quality. Plant breeding allows countries like the United States to enjoy the benefits of soil, water, and wildlife conservation because of agricultural productivity that reduces pressure on natural resources.
Who Does Plant Breeding Research?
The searchable CSREES Current Research Information System includes information on hundreds of State and Federal research projects on plant breeding, genetics, genomics, and plant genetic resources.
CSREES partnered with Auburn University, Iowa State University, and USDA's Economic Research Service to study plant breeding in the public and private sectors.
CSREES and many state agricultural experiment stations establish multi-state research projects to tackle complex problems in plant breeding or problems that require a regional approach, such as disease resistance management.
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Last Updated: September 19, 2008
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