Informing the Plant Breeding Curriculum Development Process - A Global Delphi Study

Plant breeding is currently under stress – the global demand for breeders is greater than the current educational system has been producing.  Companies are having difficulty finding well trained plant breeders, slowing the progress of agricultural research.  The need to strengthen public plant breeding programs and educate more professional plant breeders is critical if we are to continue producing improved crop varieties to provide food for an increasing population.

To aid this effort, researchers at the University of California, Davis, collected information from over 200 participants, selected globally for their plant breeding expertise. Participants were grouped into Public, Private, Recent Graduates and Developing country breeding programs. They were asked what:

• Content Knowledge,
• Experiences,
• Skills, and
• Specialties

students should have obtained at the completion of a graduate degree in plant breeding. "The wide-ranging survey opinions from diverse respondents familiar with plant breeding and crop improvement will help prepare future plant breeders for professional success," states Fred Bliss, Professor Emeritus at UC Davis.

Additional detailed information about this study is available on the following pages:

• Results from the Delphi study
• Brochure: Informing the plant breeding curriculum development process (PDF; 3.1 Mb)
  
• Poster: Informing the plant breeding curriculum development process (PDF; 646kb)
• Presentation: Informing the plant breeding curriculum development process (PDF; 1.0 Mb)

• Meet the research team
• Supporters of this study
• Press release: New UC Davis study pinpoints the training needs for future plant breeders (April 13, 2010)
• Delphi Question & Answer Handout (PDF; 132kb)
• Related Publications

For more information please contact us at sbc@ucdavis.edu