18/06/2026
BSPB Celebrates 60 Years of Representing Plant Breeding in the UK
This year marks a significant milestone for the British Society of Plant Breeders as we celebrate 60 years of championing innovation, collaboration and excellence in UK plant breeding. From our beginnings in the 1960s we have championed pioneering breakthroughs in crop varieties such as higher-yielding, disease resistant and novel breeding techniques which deliver modern varieties that deliver reliability with lower inputs with greater food security.
BSPB has been proud to stand at the heart of progress in agriculture. Together with our members and a wide network of valued stakeholders including breeders, farmers, researchers, policymakers and partners across the food supply chain we have helped shape the frameworks, partnerships and scientific achievements that underpin a productive, sustainable and resilient farming sector. From securing plant breeders’ rights and establishing farm-saved seed systems, to supporting the development of innovative, high-performing and climate-resilient crops, BSPB and its members have played a vital role in delivering benefits across the UK and beyond.
As we celebrate these achievements, we also look forward with optimism and ambition, continuing to work in partnership to meet the challenges of the future and to ensure that plant breeding remains central to a thriving agricultural industry.
Click the link below and read on for a journey through the importance of plant breeding over the past sixty years, including words from our chair, Jonathan Tann, Technical Manager, Louise Everest, the Maltsters’ Association of Great Britain’s Executive Director, Julian South, and British Sugar.
BSPB’s 60th Anniversary Newsletter [Digital]
60th Anniversary Newsletter