Message from the President Thomas Lübberstedt

Highlights of each NAPB year are the annual meetings. Former president Ksenija Gasic and her team pulled off another great meeting, showcasing the positive momentum and development of our organization. Activities in the coming year will build on ongoing efforts. Importantly, past presidents Hannah Senior and Ksenija Gasic will lead development of the 2024-2028 strategic plan. It will incorporate the 4-pillar structure, proposed at the 2023 NAPB business meeting. This will help to better align 5-year NAPB goals with activities in the 10 committees and working groups, and to identify important gaps/tasks, which may be addressed by dedicated “task forces”.

Important themes include rapid technology advances, how these impact job profiles, job opportunities and also education of future plant breeders. What are core concepts that plant breeders need to understand, while trying to keep up with the latest developments, and how should all this be taught? Advocacy to the general public and decision makers remains at the forefront of NAPB activities. Working at a Land-Grant University (LGUs), I intend to emphasize advocacy for public plant breeding both at the federal and state levels. To be convincing, advocacy at any level has to be underpinned by relevant data and case studies, which need to be collected and perhaps generated (surveys).

NAPB has traditionally been strong to involve students (among others by Borlaug scholar program), and to provide networking opportunities with potential future employers. After becoming members of the workforce in plant breeding, many former students discontinue NAPB membership. Thus, another important topic will be, how to entice longer-term NAPB memberships of early career scientists. It likely needs motivating actions from both NAPB and employers.

Any progress and developments made in NAPB results from efforts of dedicated volunteers. There are various ways to contribute, get involved. Accomplishments in the upcoming year will be presented at the 2024 NAPB meeting, jointly organized by JD Rossouw (Bayer) and Martin Bohn (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). I am already looking forward to it!