New whitepaper on Plant Breeding and Genetics now available

On March 22, the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology released an issue paper titled Plant Breeding and Genetics--A paper in the series on The Need for Agricultural Innovation to Sustainably Feed the World by 2050. Dr. P. Stephen Baenziger and Dr. Rita Mumm, cochairs for the team of authors, presented the highlights and key findings of this paper at three venues in Washington, D.C., on March 22.

Dr. Baenziger is a professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Dr. Mumm is a professor emerita in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They explained the key points of the paper at a Senate staff gathering and a House staff luncheon (both organized by NC-FAR), as well as an afternoon science policy gathering sponsored by the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA.

The authors examined the improvements that can be made in plant breeding through technological innovations and stressed that the current rate of improvement is "insufficient to create the future that humanity wants, needs, and deserves." CAST Issue Paper 57 is available as a free download from this CAST website.

For more information:
www.cast-science.org