The divergence of the public and private plant breeding sectors with implications for climate change

This study surveyed 583 plant scientists globally, 257 of whom were plant breeders, to understand the future divergence/convergence of public and private plant breeding. Both private and public plant breeders agreed that future research in the public sector should focus on climate change research. Potentially problematic is that private-sector plant breeders generally thought that the primary role of public breeders was to educate the next generation of breeders. Only 13% of private plant breeders believed that public sector breeding should focus on primary research. If this were to unfold, there would appear to be a research gap regarding breeding for climate change resiliency in the future. These results are troublesome as the public sector is the primary research component of many low-income countries battling a myriad of issues threatening food insecurity. However, the future of plant breeding should not be competition between sectors but rather finding complementary areas for collaboration.