Improving efficiency: Nation’s plant breeders discuss emerging technologies

Texas A&M breeders, students connect with industry at National Association for Plant Breeding meeting

June 25, 2026 – by Kay Ledbetter

Plant breeders in all career stages, from job-seeking graduate students to established industry professionals, recently gathered at the National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Texas A&M University campus.The conference, themed “AI-Driven Innovation: Transforming Genomes and Phenomes for the Future of Plant Breeding,” brought together public- and private-sector plant breeders. Attendees shared technical knowledge, pushed for a unified national plant breeding agenda and worked to shape the next generation of scientists.More than 400 attendees heard from experts on 40-plus crops who shared innovative breeding strategies and discussed emerging technologies at the event, hosted locally by the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

“Texas A&M AgriLife reflects the breadth of work happening across agriculture today,” said Jeffrey W. Savell, Ph.D., vice chancellor and dean for Agriculture and Life Sciences. “Finding solutions means bringing together people from different stages in their careers, different places and different specializations. That’s who is in this room.”

Beyond traditional crop breeding

The event brought together students, scientists, data practitioners and industry leaders to connect breakthrough tools with on-the-ground impact.

The cross-disciplinary breeding program is designed to move beyond traditional workflows by pairing genomics and phenomics with analytics and artificial intelligence in ways that can strengthen decision-making across the plant breeding pipeline.

“These students represent the next generation of leaders in creating impactful new plant varieties that contribute to abundant, affordable and high-quality food and agricultural products in Texas and around the world,” said G. Cliff Lamb, AgriLife Research director.

As part of the conference, Lamb led a tour for a leadership delegation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture around several of the College’s key research facilities, including the Animal Reproductive Biotechnology Center, Automated Precision Phenotyping Greenhouse, National Center for Electron Beam Research, Texas A&M Institute for Genomic Medicine, and Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture.

Breeding the feed, fuel and fiber future

Texas A&M AgriLife is known for the large and diverse breeding programs in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Department of Horticultural Sciences, covering agronomic crops such as rice, wheat, corn, sorghum and cotton, along with horticultural crops including potatoes, tomatoes, peaches, roses, pecans and hibiscus.

AgriLife Research breeders discussed advances on food and feed crops like wheat, sorghum, vegetables and other horticultural crops, fuel-related crops such as corn, and the fiber crops of hemp and cotton. They also highlighted how geographic and climatic variability enhances their ability to test crops like rice, peanuts and potatoes, which are less common in other states.

In addition to hearing about the latest research and breeding strategies, attendees toured RiceTec, a company in Alvin founded by former Texas A&M faculty member Hank Beechell, Ph.D., who played a significant role in the Green Revolution.

 

Texas A&M AgriLife Plant Breeding

Learn more about the crops and programs within the Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Science and Department of Horticultural Sciences.

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