Rationale : State of Rosaceae Educational, Extension, and Research Programs

State of specialty crop educational opportunities

With the advent of genomic sciences in agriculture, the nature of spectrum of careers in the plant sciences has changed enormously. Traditional career paths in agriculture have largely been replaced by careers focused on the development and implementation of high technology. There has been a movement of students seeking education and training in the more applied agricultural sciences (e.g. plant pathology, agronomy) to the basic sciences (e.g. biology, biochemistry and genetics). This is particularly evident at Land Grant institutions such as Clemson University, where although student numbers in the basic science departments have grown substantially in the past 10 years, the more applied departments have experienced significant reduction in student numbers. This change in career emphasis has led to an erosion of the workforce available for specialty crop breeding programs at a time when the integration of biotechnology and traditional breeding practices offers excellent opportunities for career development as well as the sustained improvement of agriculture in the U.S. The numbers of public breeders has fallen dramatically over recent years. Over the past decade, the number of U.S. public specialty crop breeders has declined by 43% (Traxler et al., 2005) as institutions have systematically phased out breeding programs in favor of high technology positions capable of attracting large federal and private grants. Currently, the vast majority of breeders are nearing retirement, and few young breeders are taking up the torch. As a consequence, the future of genetic improvement in Rosaceae is uncertain.

State of specialty crop extension programs

Communication pipelines among the Rosaceae industry, breeders, and genomics researchers are largely broken. Much of the science being conducted is top-down, with the scientists making decisions about product development with limited consultation from breeders and industry. This is evidenced by an overall lack of robust, interdisciplinary research programs among genomicists and breeders, and a lack of results of genomics research translated into practical outcomes. Multi-disciplinary, stakeholder-driven integrative approaches to science are commonly referred to as “vertical integration” and are accomplished through the organization of partnerships or cooperatives among all parties involved in the product development pipeline. Their success hinges on the willingness of each participant to adjust their workflow and practices to align with clearly defined goals set by the group. The value of vertical integration is now being realized by sectors of the Rosaceae industry, where nurseries, growers, packers, distributors, and wholesalers are coming together through the formation of collectives to control product quality, distribution, sales, and pricing. Collectives such as “The Next Big Thing” are poised to be enormously successful in improving apple quality and profitability through the vertically integrated production and marketing of new cultivars (Warner, 2006) following successful branding and licensing programs that have made ‘Pink Lady’ and ‘Honeycrisp’ apple cultivars household names. A similar vertical integration paradigm is needed for the research and development stages of Rosaceae genetic improvement including the use of genomics technology.

State of Rosaceae genetics and breeding

While significant progress has been made in genomics research on a number of these crops, including peaches, apples, and strawberry, and while the U.S. is leading in various areas (such as ESTs, physical maps and genome sequencing), it is now apparent that the U.S. remains behind in transferring this to application in breeding and crop improvement. At the same time, the breeding infrastructure itself is in peril. Existing breeding infrastructure within the U.S. primarily consists of loosely knit programs within the USDA-ARS, Land Grant Universities, and privately funded organizations such as commodity commissions and for-profit corporations and does not typically include large scale corporations or collectives. International public and private investments in Rosaceous crop breeding and product development has far outpaced U.S. investments. Projects such as the European Union HiDRAS project (http://users.unimi.it/hidras/) and public/private corporations like HortResearch in New Zealand now lead the way. As a consequence, U.S. growers have become increasingly dependent on foreign germplasm and trait improvements that may or may not address key U.S. stakeholder needs. A number of critical gaps in Rosaceae genomics infrastructure that impede translational breeding efforts remain, including experience and infrastructure on marker-trait association mapping, integrated germplasm and phenotyping databases, software and statistical support for translational breeding, and extensive genetic maps for major crops such as cherry, commercial strawberry, and rose.

References

NASS, The National Agricultural Statistics Service

Traxler G, Acquaye AKA, Frey K, Thro MA (2005) Public sector plant breeding resources in the US: Study results for the year 2001. Available at www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/plants/pdfs/plant_report.pdf [verified 9 Mar. 2006]. USDA– Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Washington, DC.

Warner G (2006) The next big thing: It’s a new marketing cooperative. Good Fruit Grower 57(16): 28.