Navigation trail

• Home page
• Case studies
• Assistant wheat breeder: James

Assistant wheat breeder: James

This Case Study belongs to Plant breeder/geneticist.

James did a BSc in Biology at the University of Leeds and decided he would pursue a career in plant science. His first job as a laboratory assistant, working in a government-run BBSRC agricultural science institute at Long Ashton, Bristol, confirmed his determination and he took an MSc in Crop Protection at the University of Bristol to inprove his job prospects. The opportunity arose for him to do a PhD in wheat genetics at the John Innes Centre in Norwich (2002-2006). This PhD project, which involved mapping yellow rust resistance genes in wheat as a way of developing molecular markers for marker-assisted selection, was sponsored by plant breeding company Advanta Seeds UK. He gained an insight into all aspects of plant breeding and picked up expert knowledge that will allow him to be innovative and increase the tools available for breeding new improved varieties quicker to market. He decided to pursue this rather than an academic career, as he would be able to utilise his knowledge and expertise in plant genetics to produce a clear end product of real benefit to society, i.e., new varieties of wheat containing improved traits for bread making, animal feed, bioethanol, etc.

He identified the head breeders of all the UK plant breeding companies and wrote speculative letters along with his CV, outlining his desire to have a career in plant breeding and asking for work experience if no jobs were available. All but one wrote back to him very positively offering work experience, but Syngenta Seeds interviewed him informally for a post as assistant wheat breeder and offered him the job.

There is a low turnover of jobs in this industry. The best way to get in is through some previous work experience, gained either in an unpaid position for a few weeks as part of a university course, or as a paid student helping out at harvest. All plant breeding companies take on a number of students between the months of July and September to help in all aspects of harvesting and seed preparation. This is an ideal opportunity to make an impression on a company and would put you in a strong position if you wished to pursue a career in the industry as and when jobs become available. 

James’s role has developed from simply processing new varieties through the trialling system, to taking the lead in both internal and external collaborative projects. These projects often involve identifying new genes of interest in the hope of producing molecular tools that will greatly increase both the efficiency and speed of selecting new, improved varieties of wheat.

His job entails crossing wheat plants to produce new varieties. He tissue samples all newly developed wheat lines to screen for desirable genes, allowing a proportion of material to be discarded long before they reach the field trial stage. He designs and drills disease nurseries, which he will assess for various fungal diseases, and inoculates them using fungal pathogens he has cultured and multiplied. He manages scientific projects, prepares reports, undertakes literature searches, attends meetings and gives presentations and assists in all aspects of harvest.

He particularly enjoys the variety of the role. There are a wide range of tasks that have to be performed during the year, but many of these jobs are seasonal, so no two weeks or months are the same. There is a lot of outdoor work in the summer - assessing field trials and scoring plant material through to harvesting and drilling. However, during winter there is an opportunity to do more desk work, develop plant breeding strategies and do research. There can be a lot of travel around the UK, going to various trial sites, and meetings, and as James is part of a multinational company, opportunities for foreign travel also come up.

The only drawback is that during the summer harvest, and the subsequent period when seed is prepared prior to being drilled in the field, you can routinely work 60-hour weeks, including weekends. This lasts for about eight weeks, during July and August. You will not be able to take any leave during this period and this can be an issue for people wanting to take a summer holiday with the family.

Ultimately James would like to progress through to being a senior breeder with overall responsibility for the programme. This would include dictating the future direction of the programme, being in charge of designing all the crosses, and sanctioning all future developments and innovations that will aid the plant breeding programme.

Case Study sourced by Janet Hindle of University of Leeds, 20 February 2009.