2019 ASHS Annual Conference

The Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee (PBCC) and the National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) have a long history of collaboration to sustain plant breeding. The PBCC, a multistate coordinating committee of the State Agricultural Experiment Stations within the Land Grant University System, was formed in 2006 to insure the long-term national importance of a strong plant breeding infrastructure and education capacity, and to increase national awareness of plant breeding’s contributions to the U.S. economy. From the work of the PBCC, NAPB was formed in 2008, held its first annual meeting in 2011, and officially incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation in 2012. NAPB is an independent professional society with the goal of advocating a cohesive national plant breeding agenda in which strong public and private sectors work independently and together to insure the value and importance of plant breeding are known and appreciated. In 2019, NAPB will hold its’ 8^th annual meeting where the PBCC will also hold its’ 14^th meeting. In this presentation, we will highlight the work of PBCC and NAPB while describing how the two organizations continue working collaboratively to insure future plant breeding innovations.