COURSE OVERVIEW:
The only Global Hybrid Breeding Advanced Course taught by hybrid breeders! Designed for busy plant breeders, their teams, and future plant breeders, this course aids in designing and developing a true hybrid breeding engine. We cover topics from setting up breeding objectives to managing germplasm and genetic variability, understanding hybrid breeding nuances including trait organization, organizing germplasm into heterotic groups, hybrid breeding techniques, and maximizing hybrid vigor for faster genetic progress and better variety performance in farmers’ fields. In the last hour, we may invite another experienced plant breeder to join for Q&A.
This course is a recommended prerequisite for UC Davis Plant Breeding Academy.
June 10 & 12, 2025
(2 - half-days, ONLINE)
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Pacific time zone (PDT)
Early Registration Price: $790*
Regular Registration Price: $890
*Early registration discount ends May 10, 2025
INSTRUCTORS:
Ken Owens, Ph.D.
Ken Owens comes with over 42 years of experience in Vegetable Breeding. A University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, Ken began his career as a cucumber and pepper breeder with Peto Seed in Woodland, California in 1982. In 2000 he co-founded Magnum Seeds, a very successful company recognized worldwide for its innovative breeding activities in 8 vegetable classes. During his prolific career, Ken and his team bred many leading varieties for both open-field and protected culture markets. Ken is looking forward to giving back and sharing his experiences with new generations of plant breeders.
Jovan Djordjevic, Ph.D.
Jovan is a plant breeder & seed executive with over 25 years of experience in the field crops and vegetable seed industries. His career began in France in 1996, as a Corn Breeder for Monsanto. Jovan continued in Canada as the Canola Breeding Lead for Monsanto, then in California as the R&D Team lead for Bayer/BASF. Throughout his prolific career, he has been a part of over 200 releases of hybrid varieties of corn, canola, tomato, pepper, sweet corn, watermelon, melon, cucumber, onions, carrots, and leek. In addition to being an SBC director of education, instructor for Plant Breeding academies and other SBC courses, Jovan is one of the founders and board director for Murray River Seeds and an industry consultant for plant breeding and business strategies with F2Gen LLC. He is looking forward, together with the SBC team of instructors, to impart his experiences to future generations of plant breeders and other seed industry professionals.
Attention International students: Please note before you register that you may enter your international phone number in the "Course Registration Information" section but in the "Contact information/Billing information" section, phone numbers must be in US format so you can enter: (530) 400-1234. Email jerobinson@ucdavis.edu with any additional questions or issues you may have.
Questions? Contact Roxy Howard at roxhoward@ucdavis.edu.