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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] meeting on reinvigorating public plant breeding
  • Date: Sun, 06 Jul 2003 11:43:26 -0700

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fwd: [sustag] Fwd: FW: farmers to plant breeding meeting?
Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 06:39:33 -0500
From: Jane Jewett <jewet006@UMN.EDU>
Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group
<SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Greetings, SANET--

This meeting on reinvigorating public plant breeding looks like an
opportunity to be seized. I'm including all the forwards so that you can
see where it comes from, but please scroll down a ways to find the meeting
info.

Regards,
Jane

I was asked to forward this note to people who might be interested. Feel
free to pass the information along to others.
Bill

Bill Wilcke
Professor, Extension Engineer, and
Regional Coordinator for the NCRSARE Program
204 BioAgEng, University of Minnesota
1390 Eckles Ave, St. Paul MN 55108
voice: 612-625-8205 fax: 612-624-3005
email: wilck001@umn.edu
web: www.bae.umn.edu and www.sare.org/ncrsare


>>> "Auburn, Jill" <JAUBURN@CSREES.USDA.GOV> 06/30/03 11:46AM >>>
Coordinators -- our plant breeding and genomics program leader for
CSREES, Ann Marie Thro, told me about this meeting and said they (the
organizers, not Ann Marie) are looking for help getting people to it,
particularly farmers.
Jill

Greetings- You are invited to the Summit on Seeds and Breeds for 21st
Century Agriculture. This Summit will bring together a selected group
of
scientists and participants from concerned organizations and
government
to address the needs and limitations of current breeding and the
potential for reforming public breeding and funding policy.

Your name has been forwarded as an interested participant to take part
in this working meeting. We may have a full conference in the future
but
the purpose of this meeting is to strategize a blueprint to
reinvigorate
public plant and animal breeding.

Please RSVP to this message to confirm your interest in participating
in
the summit. We will be sharing the final agenda and further details in
the near future.

Summit planning committee
Michael Sligh RAFI USA
William Goldstein Michael Fields Ag Institute
Jean-Luc Jannik Iowa State Univ
Deon Stuthman, Univ of Minnesota
Fred Kirschenmann, Leopold Institute
Charles Brummer, Iowa State Univ
Kim Leval,Center for Rural Affairs
Kendall Lampke, Iowa State University

Don Bixby, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
William F Tracy, University of Wisconsin
Ron Rosman, Farmer
Teresa Opheim, MSAWG
Stan Cox, Land Institute


Summit on Seeds and Breeds for
21st Century Agriculture.

Washington DC - September 6-8, 2003

Background

At the beginning of a new century, and in the face of many complex
societal and environmental problems, it is important to re-assess how
plant and animal breeding coupled with genetic conservation might best
contribute to the development and maintenance of a healthy
agriculture.
Agriculture in our country involves a vast array of crops and
livestock
produced in a wide range of climatic, economic, and cultural
environments on widely diverse farms. New value-added market
opportunities such as organically grown and humanely raised foods are
increasing. For many reasons, it is in our interest to ensure a broad
availability of crop varieties and animal breeds to ensure farmer and
consumer choice. We need plant and animal breeding programs that will
enhance biodiversity, assure free flow of knowledge, reflect societal
goals and farmers needs, balance the public-private breeding
relationship, and maintain and enhance technical breeding competency.

Furthermore, such approaches could truly serve the public interest if
they were targeted to support farming systems that enhance or maintain
the quality of our soil, water, and air resources while producing
adequate quantities of high-quality, nutritious agricultural products.
Such sustainable systems are often multifunctional; they also
integrate
animal production and organic wastes while optimizing nutrient cycling
and other soil conserving practices. They also include animal
production
systems, which are designed to maintain animal health and well-being
and
thereby reduce the need for antibiotics, hormones and other chemical
supports.

Current developments in agriculture present new needs, challenges, and
opportunities for public breeding programs. This is because new breeds
and crops are needed to enhance the function and long-term success of
such farming practices, and to fill the need for products with
demonstrably enhanced nutritional or culinary value. Innovative
linkages
need to develop between researchers, farmers, and seed or breeding
companies to assure that a new set of goals and methods is taken up to
meet the needs of this new, developing agriculture.

Regrettably, the United States has not taken a long-term,
comprehensive,
strategic approach to these challenges and public sector breeding has
declined. Currently, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
and
Land Grant Universities (LGUs), once major developers of new varieties
and breeds, release relatively few new varieties or breeds as compared
with the private sector.

Additionally, the development of new tools of biotechnology, and the
means to protect both genes and methods for genetic modification as
intellectual property, has further attracted private-sector
investments
in the development of seeds and animal breeds which become corporate
property not freely available to farmers.

So, in this era where control of elite germplasm has increasingly
become
proprietary, it is important to strike a new balance through
reinvigorated and enhanced activities and investments within the
public
domain. Public programs are best suited for the higher risk efforts of
developing new crops and breeds to meet public needs. Such needs
include the need for a diverse array of nutritious products that are
readily accepted by consumers and farmers, to meet the needs of new
markets, and to address the growing environmental, health and societal
challenges of the 21st Century.

However, there are formidable barriers to focusing public breeding to
serve this broader vision of public interest. The barriers include the
fact that breeding programs are long term in their nature and they
will
need long-term support. Current academic structure and reward systems
may limit the numbers of scientists willing to participate in
long-term
breeding projects, even though they may be in the public interest.
Furthermore, programs that will address the needs and goals of farmers
and the public may need to have new participatory and
multidisciplinary
structures.

Goals

This Summit on Seeds and Breeds for 21st Century will bring together a
selected group of scientists and participants from concerned
organizations and government to address these needs and limitations
and
the potential for reforming public breeding and funding policy.

Our specific goals are to use this summit to:



* Develop a blueprint or road map for re-invigorating public
domain plant and animal breeding to meet the needs of a more
sustainable
agriculture.
* Build momentum to continue to work together toward these ends.
* Launch a campaign to educate policy makers.

* Publish sound actions for achievements and progress toward
these goals.


Jane Grimsbo Jewett
Information Exchange
Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture
University of Minnesota
********************************************************
The best manure for the land is the owner's footprint
--Aristotle, Economics (paraphrased)




--
L.F.London
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech





  • [permaculture] meeting on reinvigorating public plant breeding, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 07/06/2003

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