Plant breeding capacity in US public institutions

Several studies in recent decades have warned that plant breeding capacity in U.S. institutions may be declining, placing our food system at risk. To further understand the status, trajectory, and needs of these programs, a national survey was conducted in 2018. Public-sector plant breeding programs (n = 278) in 44 U.S. states responded to questions about staffing levels, budgets, access to needed personnel, and access to technology for selective breeding. Almost half of program leaders were nearing retirement age. Programs reported significantly declining estimates of hours spent on program activities by program leaders and technical support staff. On average, programs reported devoting 2.78 full-time equivalent (FTE) to plant breeding research in the most recent fiscal year (including all types of personnel); for germplasm enhancement activities and variety development, mean estimated hours per program totaled 1.58 and 2.20 FTE, respectively. The median annual operating budget in the most recent fiscal year was US$150,000; the mean (average) annual operating budget was US$266,562. Budget and FTE means are somewhat skewed toward higher figures because of a few unusually large programs; almost 80% of programs reported annual budgets of US$400,000 or less. Institutional funds, federal competitive grants, and commodity check-off programs accounted for 67% of program budgets. Many programs reported that budget shortfalls or uncertainty endangered or severely constrained or seriously constrained their ability to support key personnel, infrastructure and operations, and access to current technology for collecting, analyzing, and applying knowledge from phenotype and genotype data on plant materials in their programs.