All news and blogs
Webinar reveals approaches for breeders to save time and money, cut waste – and deliver for clients
| Adam Hunt | 22/10/2020
How can breeders and other research programs continually improve their processes and products? And how can they ensure they keep a customer focus at the centre of their work?A recent webinar organized by the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform (EiB) and Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for...
CGIAR breeding programs need more than just tech upgrades. They need change management
Opinion | Adam Hunt | 15/9/2020
By Hugo Campos, CGIAR Excellence in Breeding (EiB) / International Potato Center (CIP)The status quo anchors our minds to the past. Good change management can shake this up. Here are four ways plant breeding programs can ready themselves...
Plant breeders could let women farmers guide them
| Sam Storr | 3/6/2020
Plant breeders produce new varieties for their customers: farmers. To predict what kinds of new varieties are likely to offer significant benefits to farmers, breeders may turn to their customers to evaluate which characteristics might make a new variety more acceptable. A comprehensive review of many such evaluations suggests that if breeders were to pay more attention to what women need, it could increase the usefulness of...
Breeding for better gender equity
| Sam Storr | 11/2/2020
This blog was also posted by the Gender & Breeding Initiative A pilot study to validate tools that will help breeders to pay more attention to gender is about to be launched with two breeding programs in Nigeria and Kenya. The pilot study represents an important milestone in a new collaboration between the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform (EiB) and the CGIAR Gender and Breeding Initiative (GBI), which is led by the CGIAR...
Change management and behavioral change is key to modernization in CGIAR
Opinion | Sam Storr | 3/9/2019
By Hugo Campos, International Potato Center (CIP) “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the...
Digitization survey results announced
| Sam Storr | 28/8/2019
In March 2019, EiB surveyed its members to identify the models of equipment currently used to digitize breeding operations.These include package printers, label printers, barcode readers, electronic data collectors and seed counters that can be used to speed up, standardize and introduce efficiency savings into breeding program operations.The survey results will be used to guide the outreach agenda of EiB module leaders, while the makes and...
Partnering with the seed industry to redefine the Latin American forages market
Success story | Sam Storr | 12/8/2019
Meat and dairy products are central to the Latin American diet, and livestock is a source of income for over 600 million people living on less than US $1 per day around the world. Historically, a lack of quality forage crops has restricted...
Transforming CGIAR breeding impact: 3 key points to understand the improvement plan initiative
Opinion | Sam Storr | 16/7/2019
In 2019, all CGIAR Centers are focused on taking breeding program impact to the next level.Each center is developing an improvement plan that identifies key innovations and investments that will transform the rate at which new...
Applying advanced genomics and data tools to complex polyploid crops
| Sam Storr | 4/6/2019
CGIAR and public sector experts met at the International Potato Center (CIP, Peru), May 8-10, 2019 to evaluate genomics resource needs and demonstrate new tools and methods for polyploid crop breeding. Some of the most important crops in the world, such as potato, sweet potato, wheat and banana are also some of the most genetically complex,...
Plant breeding for the future: the time is now
| Sam Storr | 29/4/2019
by Laura Cramer and Philip Thornton (CCAFS)This article first appeared on CCAFS.cgiar.org, read it here. Climate change requires that we breed crops and livestock better suited to new conditions.Think about the last food you ate. Maybe it was a meal or maybe you’re snacking on something right now. Have you ever considered the amount of effort that has gone into plant and animal breeding to produce that food? The wheat that was ground...