Plant Breeding Is Moving Out of the Labs
January 28, 2021 
Ball Seed Lab Sowing Head
Breeding is a science and an artform.
“Breeders are artists,” says Jeannie Svob, Griffin’s Business Leader for Plants and Seed. “They will always want to create something unique and stunning that will be exciting to garden enthusiasts.”
When we think of a breeder, we might picture them in the lab working, like a painter locked away creating their next art piece. While breeders do get out of the lab occasionally to work with growers trialing their plants and assess experimental plants in trials and research fields, they don’t often have the chance to interact as much as they would like with retailers and end consumers to hear feedback about the crops they breed. This separation is expected to go away, however, as more of them move out of their traditional work environments to engage at all levels of the supply chain.
Leaving the Labs
As the new decade continues, more industry personnel see this trend continuing well into 2021.
“I believe breeding is following the trends of almost every industry. The supply chain is tighter and more interconnected than ever before,” says Brad Smith, Retail Category Manager at Sakata Seed America. “Breeders are not locked away in labs working in isolation but are now working alongside our grower partners and retailers to help consumers be successful. The days of the segments being easily and clearly defined are gone and not returning. All parts of our industry are tightly connected. This will only increase in coming years.”
Benefits to Consumers and Retailers
This shift will allow for more unique ideas to come to breeders as they hear about the needs of their consumers and retailers and make improvements to existing genetic lines as well as develop new products for the market.
“It’s easy to identify successful items and bad items,” Smith says. “This information flows between the supply chain at unprecedented speed and with great detail. This links the breeder to consumer at a greater level than one could have imagined a few years ago.”
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