AFRI – FAS Conventional Plant Breeding for Cultivar Development (A1143)

Program Area Priority: The Conventional Plant Breeding for Cultivar Development program will support public breeding efforts that provide farmers with greater access to locally and regionally adapted cultivars and address the public breeding priorities in the USDA plant breeding roadmap (https://www.usda.gov/topics/plants).

Applications for research must address later stages of cultivar development focused on datadriven evaluation of developed materials in established regional trials or cooperative networks with the primary goal of producing distinct, uniform, finished cultivars or heterogeneousvarieties for public release with benefits to either producers or consumers. Research proposals must include (1) how the cultivar will be released and marketed, (2) who owns the intellectual property, (3) letters of support from stakeholders, (4) how the research fits within the overall existing breeding program, and (5) how this support for later stages of cultivar development will enhance and increase the availability of cultivars in the market place within the duration of the award. In addition to the research, proposals may include requests for modern plant breeding equipment (e.g., ranging from field to seed or processing to laboratory) to support plant breeding program infrastructure. Stand-alone equipment proposals are not acceptable. Relevance and need to enhance cultivar development must be clearly justified, demonstrable, and specific. Research that incorporates education of field-based plant breeders is strongly recommended. Breeding for tribal food systems using indigenous traditional ecological knowledge is appropriate for this program area priority. Research that results in new cultivars addressing sustainability or climate resiliency goals are also appropriate for this priority.