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The Outstanding Student Award of UC Davis European Plant Breeding Academy was handed over to Marta Graziani at the 2022 Euroseeds Congress in Berlin, Germany.

The UC Davis European Plant Breeding Academy welcomed a new class in early October 2022. Class VII completed Week 1 (of 6) in Enkhuizen “City of Seeds” in the Netherlands with help from our friends at Seed Valley in Enkhuizen. Class took place at the famous Museum Sow to Grow and the class enjoyed their first industry visits at Syngenta and Bayer. Next up is Week 2 in Angers, France in March 2023!

Class VIII of the Plant Breeding Academy is officially halfway through their PBA program after completing its third week in Davis. The topics covered this week were Hybrid Breeding, Heterosis, Genotyping, Heterotic groups, just to name a few. Kendra Armstrong, Jay Patel, and our Academy Director Jovan Djordjevic returned in person with the class, and they were joined by guest presenters Ken Owens and Kidist Kibret.

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Long-lasting drought and increasing production costs have been putting California farmers to the test this year.

One of the biggest expenses for a farmer is fertilizer. In just the past year, the price for nitrogen-based fertilizer has doubled due to supply issues.

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Congratulations to Class VI of the European UC Davis Plant Breeding Academy(sm)  (EPBA) on their recent Graduation! Preferred in-person teaching model for 6 weeks, EPBA VI had 2 sessions online in 2021 due to pandemic. The graduating class includes 17 students from 13 countries, and all are now fully trained to run plant breeding programs and/or contribute to larger breeding teams.

Class VIII of the Plant Breeding Academy recently finished their second week in Davis. Selection Theory, Genetic Variances, Heritability’s, Accumulation of favorable alleles, Genetic Gain, Recurrent Selection, Chromosome engineering, to name just a few topics we covered last week. The class enjoyed getting together again, this time with all 20 students in attendance.

Dr. Jay Patel has recently joined our teaching roster of the UC Davis Plant Breeding Academy as one of the core instructors, beside Dr. Kendra Armstrong, (42 Ag Genetics), Dr. Kent Bradford, Dr. Jovan Djordjevic, and Dr. Allen Van Deynze of UC Davis.

Congratulations to Class VII students of the Davis Plant Breeding Academy. This class is exceptional, for they began in 2018 and the pandemic prevented them from meeting for 2 years until they finally came together for their final Week and Graduation on April 11-15. The graduating class consisted of 14 students, 9 of which were able to meet in-person in Davis, while 5 were online via Zoom. We wish a special congratulations and the best of luck to PBA Class VII! 

Allen Van Deynze explains importance of access to all of the tools in the plant breeders’ toolbox, including gene editing to combat climate change and attain nutritional security across crops and nations. Learn More >>

Dr Kendra Armstrong has recently joined our teacher roaster of UC Davis Plant Breeding Academy, as a core instructor. 

“Being an instructor for UC Davis’ PBA is a career highlight and a great opportunity. Working with the students has been tremendously rewarding already, and I am looking forward to more great interactions in coming sessions and cohorts", said Dr Kendra Armstrong.

Kent Bradford Receives Lifetime membership to International Society for Seed Science Read More >>

European PBA Class VI completed their fifth week in Almeria, Spain and were lucky to get some great weather during their trip. They visited Bayer and Rijk Zwaan in Almeria and are looking forward to their week 6 graduation in June.