Our very own Hannah Senior, CEO of PBS International, wraps up the final episode of the Plant Breeding Stories podcast by reflecting on common themes from the series. She discusses how entrepreneurship is important to advance agriculture and explains why more systems-focused thinking is critical for sustainable food production.

Dr Leena Tripathi, Director of the East African hub of IITA, shines light on the world of banana breeding, explaining the challenges of breeding with triploids and why developing disease-resistance traits is a critical objective. She describes how her research, which uses biotechnology techniques such as gene editing and transgenics, can deliver practical disease-resistance solutions for banana growers.

Dr Julia Sibiya, Associate Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, discusses her path into plant breeding and her work today. She describes her interest in hybrid sorghum varieties and using biotechnology to promote breeding progress. Julia also shares her views on how to encourage the next generation of scientists to join the challenge of solving global food security issues.

John Letts of Heritage Harvest has turned received agricultural wisdom on its head. His fascinating story combines his experiences as a chef, archeobotanist, roof thatcher and plant breeder. He brings a remarkable, enterprising and revolutionary approach to crop development, prioritising resilience and delivering truly remarkable results.

Dr Girish Chowdhary, Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois, turned his expertise in computer science and robotics into a boon for plant breeders. He explains why he founded EarthSense to provide autonomous in-field phenotyping, the differences between academic and startup life, and why automation matters.

Dr Ksenija Gasic, Professor of Horticulture at Clemson University, takes us on a fruit-breeding journey from Serbia to the United States. She explains what it was like as a PhD student at the University of Novi Sad during the Balkan conflict and explains why it takes up to 20 years to produce a new peach cultivar.

Dr Narinder Dhillon, principal cucurbits breeder for the World Vegetable Center, explains how public and private sector collaboration can spur innovation, as part of his global vegetable breeding journey. We learn why less well-known cucurbits like the bitter gourd and luffa play a critical role in health & nutrition, and why Thailand is the perfect place for breeding them!

Emily Negrin, Senior Director of Corporate Affairs at Inari, is an agriculture advocate and a scientist’s best ally. She insights from a career in communicating about agriculture, and explains why consumer acceptance is one of the biggest barriers gene-editing technology faces. Emily also shares some of Inari’s aggressive goals for improving the sustainability of corn & soybean.

Dr Salvatore Ceccarelli, formerly with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), shares a fascinating story of leaving his home in Italy to breed forage grasses and barley for subsistence farmers in Syria. He explains why farmer participation in plant breeding leads to better outcomes and the extraordinary resilience of the smallholder farmers.

Dr Susan McCouch, Professor in plant breeding and genetics at Cornell University, took journey of a lifetime that reframed her understanding of humanity and charted the course for her life’s work in rice breeding.