Cultivar Development in the US Public Sector

Public plant breeders at land grant universities and USDA play a critical role in the development of improved cultivars for farmers in the United States. Over the past 20 yr, a series of reports have documented the decrease in public plant breeding programs, breeder positions, and government financial support. Publically funded programs allow breeders to focus on crop types, geographic locations, and management systems that are not sufficiently profitable to warrant significant investment from private industry. A survey was conducted in 2015 to understand the current state of cultivar development in the U.S. public sector. The survey respondents were public plant breeders actively releasing finished cultivars and inbred lines, and questions included: (i) demographic and background information; (ii) germplasm usage and exchange; (iii) intellectual property rights; (iv) breeding program funding; (v) institutional support and program size. Results indicate that public cultivar development is in a state of decline, with insufficient numbers of younger breeders working in the public sector today to maintain the current level of cultivar development as the most senior breeders retire. Funding public breeding programs continues to be a challenge, as is access to improved germplasm due to overly restrictive licensing agreements. Potential opportunities include re-distribution of royalty funds to bolster revenue streams, and simplifying the germplasm exchange process to increase the likelihood of successful cultivar releases.