Davis, California, USA
September 15, 2014

Continuing to fill a critical need for trained plant breeders, the University of California, Davis Plant Breeding AcademySM (PBA) started its fifth class of students last week.  Over the next two years, during the six sessions held at UC Davis this class will spend more than 300 hours in classes, workshops and the field, training to become professional plant breeders.

The new class consists of the following fifteen participants: 

• Marta Baptista, Driscoll's, USA;
• Ray Cowley, DuPont Pioneer, Australia;
• Ryan Eadry, Halls Plant Farm , USA;
• Pieter Fourie , Hygrotech, South Africa;
• José Ezequiel  Gallegos Solórzano, Bayer CropScience, Mexico;
• Evan Gillis, DL Seeds, Canada;
• Lluvia Gutierrez, Driscoll's, USA;
• Marilyn Hinlo, East-West Seed, Philippines;
• Sean Keyworth, HM Clause, USA;
• Jace Knight, Dixon Seeds, USA;
• John Larse, Larse Farms, Inc. , USA;
• Jeff Mansiere, Bayer CropScience, Canada;
• Curtis Van Laecke, Horizon Seeds, Canada;
• Eric Willard, RJ Reynolds, USA;
• Josh Williamson, Bayer CropScience, USA.

For more information on the Plant Breeding Academy, please visit http://pba.ucdavis.edu  or contact Joy Patterson at jpatterson@ucdavis.edu

The Seed Biotechnology Center was established at UC Davis in 1999 to mobilize the research, educational and outreach resources of the University of California in partnership with the seed and biotechnology industries, and to facilitate discovery and commercialization of new seed technologies for agricultural and consumer benefits.

Website: http://pba.ucdavis.edu/

Published: September 15, 2014