As funding pressures mount, NAPB Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee (PBCC) chair Marta Pudzianowska wants to help public breeders understand the forces shaping their programs and their profession.
At the National Association for Plant Breeding (NAPB) 2026 annual meeting, Pudzianowska discussed the behind-the-scenes work happening through the PBCC. Pudzianowska is an assistant professor of plant and soil sciences at Mississippi State University. She says the committee aims to support public breeding programs nationwide.
In this video, she explains how the committee analyzes resources, develops best practices and supports curriculum development. She also talks about helping breeders navigate an increasingly complex environment.
Public plant breeders are often focused on the immediate work in front of them: improving crops, mentoring students, teaching classes and managing breeding programs with limited resources.
She says they don’t always have time to step back and assess the broader landscape around them.
That’s one of the roles Pudzianowska hopes to strengthen in her PBCC chair role.
The committee may not be widely known outside plant breeding circles, but its mission is straightforward. It exists to help public breeders navigate an increasingly complex environment.
“We have a group of people interested in the issues that plant breeding programs are facing and the issues plant breeders at land-grant universities are facing,” Pudzianowska says.
PBCC Focus
PBCC focuses on several areas, including analyzing resources, developing best practices, supporting education and communicating information back to breeders.
But, her most important message is that breeders are not alone.
“Regardless of which crop they are working with, they are not on their own,” she says.
That message comes at a critical time. Public breeding programs continue to face economic pressures, shifting university priorities and questions about workforce development.
When asked about the biggest threat to public plant breeding today, her answer was simple.
“The economy,” she says.
Still, Pudzianowska says PBCC doesn’t advocate for a single issue. Its purpose is to help breeders understand the larger picture.
“Our role is to give plant breeders the best picture of what’s happening in public plant breeding ,” she says. “(We want to know) how it’s changing and what the current problems are.”
That work also includes preparing future plant breeders.
The committee developing curriculum and evaluating the best ways to prepare and train students for careers in agriculture.
“We are trying to find out what is happening with graduates and training new breeders because this is the future of breeding,” she says.
Pudzianowska, the goal is simple: create stronger connections so breeders have the information and support they need to succeed in a rapidly changing environment.
