Sustaining the Future of U.S. Plant Breeding.

Plant breeding is essential to the long-term sustainability of agricultural production to supply the world with food, feed, fiber, fuel, green space, and shelter. The PBCC was established in the federal-state partnership in 2006, to support plant breeding “to solve problems that concern more than one state” (SAES Directors et al., 2006). PBCC’s core membership are representatives of State Agricultural Experiment Stations (SAES) that have plant breeding programs. PBCC seeks to bolster long-term SAES plant breeding programs to (1) educate plant breeders of the future; (2) contribute to breeding methods and germplasm enhancement; and (3) develop cultivars, especially for specialty and commodity crops. PBCC fills unique roles as a working committee and in communicating with USDA and other federal agencies on issues of national importance concerning plant breeding as a voice of the states.