Outreach

As a public, independent voice, the SBC actively engages in promoting science-based decisions for policy and regulations. The range of outreach activities includes everything from writing scientific articles to explaining genetic engineering to a California county board of supervisors to testifying in Europe before an international forum. The SBC is always looking for opportunities to connect scientific information and expertise with interested audiences. Some examples include:

• Solanaceae Coordinated Agricultural Project (SolCAP). This project integrates research, education and outreach activities of potato and tomato to help understand variation for agriculturally important traits.
• Economic Analysis of the California Seed Industry. This economic analysis was conducted in collaboration with the UC Agricultural Issues Center.
• Chile-California partnership. The SBC played a central role in establishing this partnership.
• Agricultural Biotechnology in California (ABC) series bulletins. The SBC was involved in developing a series of publications describing the principles behind agricultural biotechnology and some of its important applications.
• California Seed Association fact sheets.This series of fact sheets was prepared by the CSA to inform the public about the California seed industry and related issues.
• Workshop on Biotechnology for Horticultural Crops. The SBC organized this meeting to assess the scientific, regulatory and marketing challenges to the application of biotechnology for horticultural crops. The proceedings of the meeting were published as a special issue of California Agriculture.
• Seminars and presentations. SBC scientists present seminars and lectures in diverse public venues on all aspects of seeds and agricultural biotechnology. Please contact the Center for more information on these presenations.
• Press Release: Plant Breeding and Genomics Focus of New National Web Resources As global food needs increase, so does the need for crops that can be efficiently and safely produced. Traditional plant breeding methods have served well in the past and breakthrough technologies are now available to aid this process.