APSA-WorldVeg Consortium

 

APSA and World Vegetable Center Consortium

Membership in this consortium is offered to APSA members with an interest in plant breeding for the development of improved vegetable varieties. Benefits are provided by the World Vegetable Center and the consortium membership is facilitated by the Asia and Pacific Seed Association.

The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) is a non-profit international agricultural research and development center whose mission is to alleviate poverty and malnutrition in the developing world through increased production and consumption of nutritious, health-promoting vegetables. WorldVeg carries out its mission by forming research partnerships with government, non-governmental, and private sector organizations in developing and developed countries to conserve and utilize vegetable biodiversity, improve vegetable varieties, and increase production, marketing and consumption.

As advances in biotechnology and genomics accelerate the pace of vegetable cultivar development, seed companies of all sizes must have a robust understanding of the latest vegetable breeding research, the practical skills to apply new breeding methods, and access to a diverse collection of vegetable germplasm to remain competitive in turbulent markets.

Through the APSA-WorldVeg Vegetable Breeding Consortium, participating companies and WorldVeg researchers will have multiple opportunities to discuss and evaluate breeding approaches and discover new avenues to share data and progress, creating a win-win situation. The Consortium will initially focus on tomato, pepper (chili and sweet), cucurbits (bitter gourd and pumpkin/winter squash), and explore traditional vegetables (amaranth and okra) as determined by Consortium Companies’ interest.

 

DOWNLOAD BROCHURE (English), (Simplified Chinese), (Traditional Chinese) and (Korean languages).

 

Benefits for Consortium Members Include:

1. Professional interaction at the Annual Workshop at the World Vegetable Center

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, APSA-WorldVeg has decided to change the face-to-face annual workshop in Tainan to be a video conference on Tuesday, May 12, 2020.

Please find more details as following:

      • WorldVeg will offer a video conference on May 12th (the original workshop date) to provide updates on focus crops' breeding progress and special project ideas. A Zoom link will be provided to you. 
      • WorldVeg will also offer an online one-on-one chats for consortium company participants to chat/discuss with WorldVeg breeders on 13-14 May, by prior request
      • The images and characteristics data of 2020 consortium exclusive breeding lines will be shared with all consortium members so you will be able to select the lines and file the seed request to utilize the 10 free seed acquisitions benefit. 
      • The seeds will be also available for request on July 1, 2020. 
      • WorldVeg will share all related information and video conference schedule in  early May.
      • ANNUAL WORKSHOP PROGRAM CLICK HERE.

Companies join the consortium this year will receive a discount of USD 600 from its consortium membership fee, i.e. USD 2300 for small/start-up company, USD 6300 for large company.

2. Early access to improved lines and information

Consortium Companies will be granted a 12-month lead access to newly-developed lines shown at the annual workshop. The newly-developed lines will be made available for request during the annual workshop which is usually convened during the month of May. The 12-month lead access period will run from 1 July until 30 June of the following year (“Lead Access Period”). Consortium Companies who request the newly-developed lines at later dates will not be able to extend the Lead Access Period.

The lead access to newly-developed lines will be granted to Consortium Companies relative to all other germplasm requesters who are located in Asia. WorldVeg shall be free to distribute this germplasm at any time for use outside of Asia.

Publicly available germplasm will also be shown at the workshop and Consortium members will have the same access as the general public to these lines.

In addition, Consortium members will be able to view demonstration trials and/or preliminary yield trials (“PYT”), an advanced testing stage from which WorldVeg can advance and select entries for its ‘online seed catalog’, or similar demonstration trials. Some of PYT/demonstration entries selected by WorldVeg breeders may become available by the time of the next workshop, but WorldVeg cannot guarantee when each line will become available.

Consortium members may have early access to screening protocols or other kinds of scientific information developed at WorldVeg, provided the sharing of such information does not conflict with existing agreements or policies of WorldVeg.

WorldVeg cannot warrant or guarantee the receipt of seeds by Consortium Companies within a certain timeframe after dispatch or at all due to import laws and requirements in the country where Consortium Companies are located, which WorldVeg has no control over. Consortium Companies are required to advise WorldVeg in advance regarding specific requirements for importation of seeds into its territory. Both DSIR and Non-DSIR (Department of Scientific Industrial Research) accredited companies in India are responsible for all seed importation requirements and WorldVeg will not provide any services related to seed importation into India.

3. Updates on breeding progress at WorldVeg

Consortium members will receive a newsletter highlighting the latest developments of WorldVeg breeding efforts once a year, approximately six months after the workshop. Other news and information of potential interest to members will be sent throughout the year. Expect exposure to new relevant literature about germplasm screening, breeding methods, and WorldVeg breeding lines. You’ll also receive a softcopy of the WorldVeg’s Annual Report.

4. Seed

Consortium Companies can request seed samples of genebank accessions, consortium exclusive lines, and publicly available breeding lines from the WorldVeg online seed catalog. There is no limit to the number of seed requests, subject to seed availability and phytosanitary clearance. One shipment per year of up to ten accessions/lines is free of charge for Consortium Companies. Additional material costs US$ 30 per genebank accession and US$50 per breeding line. Member Companies will cover the shipping cost of additional shipments if they request using a courier service (e.g. DHL, EMS) rather than regular registered airmail. The seeds can be sent by WorldVeg to a maximum of two different addresses which are stated in the Consortium registration form (page 1) by Consortium Companies

WorldVeg cannot warrant or guarantee the receipt of seeds by Consortium Companies within a certain timeframe after dispatch or at all due to import laws and requirements in the country where Consortium Companies are located, which WorldVeg has no control over. Consortium Companies are required to advise WorldVeg in advance regarding specific requirements for importation of seeds into its territory. Both DSIR (Department of Scientific Industrial Research) and Non-DSIR accredited companies in India are responsible for all seed importation requirements and WorldVeg will not provide any services related to seed importation into India

Transfer of any genebank germplasm accessions and/or WorldVeg-improved genetic materials from WorldVeg to member companies shall follow WorldVeg’s material transfer agreements (Standard MTA for genebank germplasm accessions and MTA2 for WorldVeg-developed genetic material).

5. Training

Consortium Companies can request seed samples of genebank accessions, consortium exclusive lines, and publicly available breeding lines from the WorldVeg online seed catalog. There is no limit to the number of seed requests, subject to seed availability and phytosanitary clearance. One shipment per year of up to ten accessions/lines is free of charge for Consortium Companies. Additional material costs US$ 30 per genebank accession and US$50 per breeding line. Member Companies will cover the shipping cost of additional shipments if they request using a courier service (e.g. DHL, EMS) rather than regular registered airmail. The seeds can be sent by WorldVeg to a maximum of two different addresses which are stated in the Consortium registration form (page 1) by Consortium Companies.

Staff from consortium companies receive preferential access and a 20% discount on tuition for WorldVeg-offered training. This benefit extends to all employees of a consortium company.

6. Participate bilateral/multilateral projects

Consortium Companies are eligible to develop and participate in bilateral and/or multilateral collaborative projects with WorldVeg, subject to additional collaboration costs paid by Consortium Companies to WorldVeg. These projects will be made available to Consortium companies to participate. Opportunities to participate in selected collaborative projects will be promoted by APSA to all its members from time-to-time.

Members who apply for the consortium before January 31, 2020 will be eligible to apply 2 exclusive multilateral projects with WorldVeg as follows. While the consortium terms is a yearly basis, companies signing the multilateral project will be provided a separate agreement and they have to be the consortium member for the total period of multilateral projects. 

Project 1: Multi-location evaluation of chili lines carrying different combinations of pvr and Cvr genes for resistance to Chili veinal mottle virus (ChiVMV)

Project 2: Chili Leaf Curl Disease in Asia: Diversity and Resistance

 

It’s a partnership

The APSA-WorldVeg Vegetable Breeding Consortium is a partnership and WorldVeg greatly values key information from Consortium companies to make its breeding programs more relevant to growers. Consortium Companies are expected to provide:

  • Regular feedback from evaluation trials of improved breeding lines. WorldVeg scientists will specify the traits to be monitored and provide experimental protocols.
  • Annual report on varieties sold that have WorldVeg germplasm in their pedigree, the WorldVeg-developed traits these varieties harbor, and the quantity of seed sold (in metric tons per variety per year). Consortium companies are asked to enter data annually. The aggregated results from analyzing these data will be used in WorldVeg’s efforts to raise funds from donors. Seed companies will not be asked to reveal the pedigree of their varieties, and all data will be kept strictly confidential.

Join the APSA-WorldVeg Consortium!

Ready to take your company to the next level? Join the APSA-WorldVeg Vegetable Breeding Consortium and discover how exposure to the latest research and closer contact with international breeders and scientists will change the way you do breeding and business.

Costs to Join and Consortium Term

Medium/Large Companies (more than 100 employees)………….US$6300.00 per annum in 2020
Small/start-up Companies (less than 100 employees)…………….US$2300.00 per annum in 2020

Consortium fees are non-refundable. The Consortium term is from January 1 to December 31.

Consortium membership is open to all APSA members in good standing and can join at any time during the year but must pay the entire fee for that term.

 

How to register:

APSA Active Member: please follow this link.
For manual registration, please contact Ms. Kunaporn Phuntunil, Technical Coordination Officer at kuna@apsaseed.org.

Payment can be made starting in January 2020.

The deadline for workshop registration is on April 24, 2020.

The invitation letter will be provided by WorldVeg for Visa application upon request. Please kindly make sure the given participant name is correct and no further changes made.

Any changes on the participant names after registration is closed (after April 24, 2020) will be charged the change fee of $100.

APSA member status

Procedure to become
APSA-World Veg 
Consortium annual workshop registration Other benefits (Germplasm access, training, seeds and updating on breeding program)
Active APSA member

Contact voting rep by cc plant breeder contact and

  • Able to register through the link or sharing the information of consortium participant to APSA secretariat for registration.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, APSA-WorldVeg has decided to change the face-to-face annual workshop in Tainan to be a video conference on Tuesday, May 12, 2020.Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, APSA-WorldVeg has decided to change the face-to-face annual workshop in Tainan to be a video conference on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. Only the consortium member that has been registered under APSA-WorldVeg consortium is eligible for all membership benefits.
Pending renewal APSA member

Contact voting rep by cc plant breeder contact;

  • Contact Ms. Kunaporn Phuntunil (kuna@apsaseed.org) to renew membership and register the consortium.

 

For more information, please Contact the secretariat office.