Plant breeding is a fundamental component of agriculture in Australasia. Improved germplasm is a vital for the ongoing sustainability of food and fibre industries and the health and well-being of society. The 16^th APBC will build on successes of previous gatherings of plant breeders and allied scientists. The theme is “Towards 2050” to capture the long-term nature of plant breeding, and the essential component plant breeding needs to play to deliver food and prosperity to the predicted world population of 9 billion by this date in the face of decreasing available production area, climate change and continued demand for new products.

Our vision for the conference is a meeting place for current and future plant breeders and allied scientists to come together and share experiences and ideas that can be used to support our drive towards 2050. The key sub-themes are predictive breeding, products for markets, dealing with the impacts of variability and climate change, and preparing for the future.

The 16^th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference (APBC) will be held at the QT Hotel, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia on 13-16 February 2022.

The APBC 2022 program will focus on “Towards 2050”, with conference topics across grains, fodder, fruits and nuts, vegetables, forestry and horticulture.

A/Prof Craig Hardner (Conference convenor)

Senior Research Fellow. The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Centre for Horticultural Science.

Prof Rebecca Ford (Convenor logisitics sub-committee)

Dean of Research. Office of the PVC (Griffith Sciences), Griffith University

Dr Emma Mace (Convenor program committee)

Senior Research Fellow. The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Centre for Crop Science

Assoc Prof David Lee (Convenor finance committee)

Plant Genetics. University of the Sunshine Coast

Prof David Jordan

Professorial Research Fellow. The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Centre for Crop Science

Dr Jodi Neal

Senior Plant Breeder. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

 Dr Katie O'Connor

Plant Breeder. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Assoc Prof Christopher Lambrides

University of Queensland, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences

Dr Greg Rebetzke

Chief Research Scientist. CSIRO Agriculture and Food

Dr Satish Kumar

Leader, Apple Genetics and Pre-breeding. Plant & Food Research, New Zealand

Dr Emma Mace

Prof David Jordan

Assoc Prof Dr Christopher Lambrides

Dr Greg Rebetzke

Prof Mark Cooper

Chair Crop Improvement. The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Centre for Crop Science.

Dr Felicity Aitkens

Senior Plant Breeder
Sugar Research Australia

Dr Dominic Kain

Geneticist
HQPlantations Pty Ltd

Dr Garth Sanewski

Principal Horticulturist. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Prof Rebecca Ford

Dr Chat Kanchana-udomkan

Research Fellow. Griffith University, School of Environment and Science.

Dr Jodi Neal

Dr Lee Hickey

Senior Research Fellow. The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Centre for Crop Science.

Dr Katie O’Connor

Ms Charlotte Rambla

PhD Candidate. The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Centre for Crop Science.

A/Prof David Lee

Dr Vivi Arief

Lecturer in Biometry. The University of Queensland, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences.