Earlier this month, OSA staff traveled to Washington, DC, to participate in the 2014 Summit on Seeds & Breeds for 21st Century Agriculture: Meeting the Challenges of Food Security. The event was hosted by the Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA. OSA participated on the planning committee and provided two presentations at the summit. The event brought together public and private plant breeders, seed and food companies, policy advocates, decision makers, and farmers for presentations and discussion on how best to move public plant breeding programs forward in the U.S. The goal of the summit was to build a clear policy pathway for ensuring that our public research investments are meeting the needs of a regionally appropriate, diverse, and resilient systems of agricultural production. A proceedings and white paper outlining a national strategy will be published later this spring. While in DC, OSA visited Capitol Hill to deliver the seeds and breeds message to members of Congress.
