The “slow atrophy of public funding” for plant-breeding programs “means that farmers have been left with fewer and fewer seed choices over the years and are ill-prepared to meet 21st Century needs,” says the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. “Over the past 20 years alone, we have lost over a third of our country’s public plant breeding programs.” NSAC said one if its members, the Rural Advancement Foundation International, released an analysis of the plant and animal breeding infrastructure, titled “Summit on Seeds and Breeds for 21st Century Agriculture.”
The report calls for more funding of public breeding programs at land grant universities, reform of seed patenting and licensing laws to increase seed availability, and rewarding biodiversity on farms and commercial seed offerings.