Thank you Dr. Cholani Weebadde for making this networking and collaboration platform. I am Shubham , a final year Bsc Agriculture student from India in Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi. I am looking forward to develop my career in field of pulse and cereal breeding for working in the field of Biofortification for tackling problem of Malnutrition and food security in Sub Saharan Africa and Southeast asia. I hope to get some collaboration opportunities for my Master's so that I can work towards my future goal efficiently.

Thank you for creating this network Dr Cholani. I hope we are going to use it to solidify our collaborations . I am a Cotton Breeder from Zambia and I hope I network with other plant breeders to enhance the art and science and improving crops .

Thank you Professor Cholani for creating this forum. Currently I am working with rice and more interested in disease resistance breeding.

Hi there fellow Plant breeders, Please feel free to invite your breeder colleagues into this platform to join your crop collaboration and start posting questions within the crops you work on. If I have not created a collaboration for your crop of interest, please feel free to leave a comment here.

First, I'd like to thank and congratulate Dr. Cholani for providing a great learning opportunity for so many people in plant breeding and for launching a network in which breeders and researchers can connect. I am currently working in raspberry breeding, located in Southern California. However, my work assists all of California, Central Mexico, Baja Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Europe, and soon China. We use conventional breeding practices and always look for traits to improve.

Hi all, thank you for your comments on the crops you are working on. I have created collaborating groups for the crops that you have mentioned below in your comments. Please join the groups you belong to so you can start conversations. Others, please let me know what crop you are working with OR want to work with.

Thank you for creating this network! I thoroughly enjoyed your course and am looking forward to keeping in contact with fellow breeders. I am currently working with strawberries. We mainly breed for Southern for California, but our program is expanding to include all of California, Florida, Central Mexico, Baja, Spain, Europe, Morocco, and Australia.

Groundnut (Peanuts), Cowpea and Pigeon Pea

Hi Cholani Thanks for creating this forum, I am sure it will provide a valuable networking and information sharing platform within the plant breeding space. In my role I work primarily in horticultural management but I have the opportunity to interact directly with our variety development program that is focused on developing Southern Highbush Blueberry. I try and work closely with our breeding team so that we develop blueberry varieties that have wide ranging adaptation and ones that deliver good commercial outcomes. Our breeding program is based in Australia, with our varieties widely adopted further afield in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. I look forward to seeing what advances we can make in the future

I am currently working on maize and breeding for enhanced resistance to Maize streak virus in locally adapted maize cultivars widely grown in Benin Republic.

Hi Cholani, I have just completed your online Plant Breeding to Fight Hunger course; it has been great, thank you. I work in the berry industry, mainly as an agronomist to date, but have started to transition into the breeding and R&D space. My focus is on rubus genetics, in particular blackberries. We are working to develop new blackberry varieties suited to the Australian environment. My focus is on thornless, primocane fruiting plants with strong post-harvest attributes (and obviously great flavour). I look forward to being part of this network. Thank you.

Hello Cholani, thank you for creating this network. This will be a great opportunity to start a new plant breeding journey and interact with other plant breeders around the world. I work with IITA in the pathology department and we work with Bananas.

First of all, I would like to congrats Dr. Weebedda and the support crew for making this great idea into a success. It's a great pleasure for me to being a part of this invaluable community, and thank you very much for providing this great opportunity for us. I am working as senior agronomist in Jagro (Pvt) Ltd., the largest strawberry growing company in Sri Lanka. I am involved in Nuersery management and local strawberry breeding program in the company. Further I am looking forward to up lift the strawberry industry in Sri Lanka.

Hi Cholani, My name is Ridley Bell, and I have been breeding blueberry varieties since 1975. My primary interest has been in Southern Highbush genetics, and have released a number of varieties that are grown in 23 countries around the world. We are blueberry growers, with more than 300 acres of blueberries, as well as commercial breeders. We have a Northern Highbush program that we are growing as well, in which we have been introducing many of our Southern Highbush selections for their consumer qualities, whilst looking for the ability of the plant to withstand cold environments. I am excited by this Plant Breeders Network that you have enabled, and think that it will be good to have the opportunity to interact with other breeders around the world. Thank you

Congratulations on launching the network, and looking forward to interacting with plant breeders around the world!