A Vegetable Breeding Consortium in Asia Provides Smallholder Farmers With Resilient Varieties

ABSTRACT Adapting vegetables to the impacts of climate change is a complex task that demands significant long‐term investment in breeding research. Heat stress and drought tolerance are intricate traits with multiple components that respond differently in varying environments. To tackle these and other challenges, the Asia and Pacific Seed Association and the World Vegetable Center have established a vegetable breeding Consortium to enhance the development of vegetable varieties in Asia by pooling private sector resources to support public breeding research. The Consortium targets traits that are difficult or expensive for companies to develop independently, often necessitating the exploration of gene bank material. Since its launch in 2017, the Consortium has expanded to 60 seed companies, with almost 200 vegetable varieties currently available in the market. This Consortium can serve as a valuable model for other public–private partnerships in agronomy and crop science.