Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee

Subcommittee - Healthy, Well-nourished Population

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This is the report from the subcommittee on a Healthy, Well-nourished Population. It met as part of the Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee in Des Moines, Iowa on June 16-18, 2008.

This report was prepared by: Michael Havey

• Officers for 2008-09
• Linda Pollak, Past Chair (Linda.pollak@ars.usda.gov)
• Michael Havey, Chair (mjhavey@wisc.edu)
• Surinder Gulia, Vice-Chair (gulias@FVSU.EDU)
• Shelley Jansky, Secretary (shjansky@wisc.edu)
• Progress on White Paper and Plan to Finish
• The White Paper has been written and is ready for final edits, which are to be incorporated by July 1, 2008. Possible additions or edits:
• Reference to the four main health problems faced by North Americans (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity)
• Statements regarding the benefits of specific carbohydrates (such as beta-glucans) in grains
• Addition of scientific references
• Add one liners for opening statements or ask statements on website by September 1
• Our group will work with Caron Gala of the American Society of Agronomy to produce a one-page glossy, eye-catching fact sheet for eventual distribution to our partners and to provide information for the PBCC one-page fact sheet. Our goal is to complete this sheet by August 31, 2008. For our fact sheet, we need:
• An opening statement that catches the attention of the reader, maybe referencing pre-biotic advantages.
• Examples of value-added characteristics with regard to health enhancement (examples of baby carrots or non-browning apples to increase consumption or specific grains, fruits or vegetables with more health-enhancing compounds or lower deleterious compounds). "Vehicle of choice" for delivery of beneficial attributes.
• Scientific references to document facts and provide additional information if desired by the reader.
• Pictures that easily convey our message.
• Present one-pagers at grower meetings and field days held by committee
  members to inform them of our efforts and enlist their support.
• Discussion on how to work with entire the PBCC group to increase USDA-NRI projects that include a field-oriented plant breeder as PI.
  • add notes
• Discussion of metrics for excellence in plant breeding for healthy population
• Metrics for quantity (numbers of):
• Refereed articles
• Breeding lines and releases
• Graduate students trained (MS and PhD)
• Seed packets sent out
• Number of MTAs or licenses
• Letters of support
• Stage of program and contributions to the pipeline
• PVP and patents
• Outreach (field days, Tech Transfer)
• Return on investment (breeding efficiency)
• Educational effort
• Trait discovery and expression
• Establishing interdisciplinary teams
• Number of grants applied for; number won
• Metrics for quality:
• Market share
• Research and/or teaching awards
• Royalties per year
• Number of grants funded
• Successful trait introgression into elite germplasm
• Citation index and impact factor
• Contributions to educational experience
• Metrics for creativity:
• Letters documenting risks and successes
• Testimony of peers
• Charting area to identify potential areas
• Patents
• Added value
• Niche products
• Discussion of potential partners for our sub-committee
• Global Initiative for Plant Breeding
• Plant Breeding Companies Worldwide
• Federal agencies: FDA, Health Canada
• Scientific societies: medical associations, dietary and nutrition associations, etc.
• Universities and Agricultural Institutes in foreign countries
• CGIAR
• Participants in Health Nutrition Subcommittee
  • Beiquan Mou (beiquan.mou@ars.usda.gov)
  • Curtis Scherder (curtis.w.scherder@monsanto.com)
  • Greg Tolla (Greg.tolla@seminis.com)
  • Ida Wenefrida (iwenefrida@agcenter.lsu.edu)
  • Jason Cavatorta (JRC87@cornell.edu)
  • Jay Romsa (Jay.romsa@genmills.com)
  • Jim Hancock (Hancock@msu.edu)
  • Leah McCann (lcmccann@wisc.edu)
  • Linda Pollak (Linda.pollak@ars.usda.gov)
  • Mark Newell (newell@iastate.edu)
  • Michael Havey (mjhavey@wisc.edu)
  • Phil Simon (psimon@wisc.edu)
  • Shelley Jansky (shjansky@wisc.edu)
  • Surinder Gulia (gulias@FVSU.EDU)
  • Todd Wehner (Todd_Wehner@ncsu.edu)
  • Wenwei Xu (email ?)