Introduction
Farmers were pioneer plant breeders long before laboratories existed. Every season, during the whole crop growth period, they monitor their farms to see which plants perform well under diseases and climatic stresses. Careful selection of the best varieties over generations has brought forth the elite genetic combinations and useful traits in crops. The selections ultimately facilitate the domestication of wild plants. Farming and plant breeding originally were never separate activities; every season offered farmers the chance to choose the best varieties (Ceccarelli et al. 2009).
As science and technology advanced, plant breeding and agriculture modernized too. Nowadays, it is not just about selecting crop varieties that visually look good in a particular field; the process also involves controlled crossing, variable field experiments, genetic markers, genome sequencing, genomic prediction, and computational analysis. These technologies have improved crop productivity to some extent. However, climate change, heat, drought, pests, and pathogens are still challenges, while the world population keeps growing. Sustainable agriculture for promoting crop productivity has always been an important topic for farmers and researchers (Voss-Fels et al. 2019).
Farmers as Partners in Scientific Research
New varieties or technologies may seem promising under lab conditions, but they may not necessarily be effective in real farm environments. While researchers may hold advanced technologies, farmers tend to have broad knowledge about local environments and crop behavior. Modern breeding usually emphasizes the interaction between genotypes and environment (G×E), and farmers have first-hand experience with the effects of different environmental factors on crop growth. The idea of participatory plant breeding (PPB) has been proposed (Weltzien et al. 2003; Weltzien and Christinck 2017). It describes the close collaboration between farmers and researchers for cultivar improvement. The contributions from farmers include knowledge on cropping systems, the provision of genetic materials, and the actual processes of breeding and selection (Weltzien et al. 2003). Previous PPB suggested that farmers and researchers usually have different preferences for variety selection. Farmers tend to emphasize the balance between productivity and marketability. However, researchers also pay attention to non-visual traits, such as disease resistance and yield potential. The combined efforts from farmers and researchers will benefit the development of elite crop varieties.
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