Introduction & Overview

The International Forage & Turfgrass Breeding Conference (IFTBC) is the first joint meeting of the 10th Molecular Breeding of Forages and Turf Conference (MBFT) and the 6th International Symposium of Forage Breeding (ISFB). This first of a kind joint meeting will be held in March 2019 in Orlando, Florida. The time and venue have been selected to allow participants to experience the transition in species composition from cool to warm season in North and Central Florida. Participants will also enjoy Florida’s delightful weather at this time of year. We believe forage and turfgrass improvement research is on the precipice of revolutionary developments and this conference offers a unique opportunity for worldwide showcase and collaboration.

About the Conference

The MBFT conference has previously met in various international venues including Dallas, TX; The Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK; USDA Forage and Range Lab, Logan UT (all in the USA); Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Wales; Sapporo, Japan; Istanbul, Turkey; and Lanzhou, China. The first three ISFB were organized by scientists with EMBRAPA and held in Brazil, with more recent meetings at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia and National University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

These two conferences traditionally bring together the premier forage and turf breeding scientists from around the world and have become a select “go to” venue for modern plant breeders. Following the 5th ISFB in Argentina in October 2015 and the 9th MBFT in Lanzhou, China in July 2016, organizers for both conferences agreed to attempt a combined meeting of both groups in Florida in 2019.

The UF/IFAS Agronomy Department will host this combined meeting in the spring of 2019. Primary local organizers include Ken Quesenberry, Emeritus Professor of forage and turfgrass breeding, Ann Blount, Professor of forage and small grains breeding, Fredy Altpeter, Professor of breeding and molecular genetics of forage and bioenergy crops, Kevin Kenworthy, Professor of turfgrass and forage breeding, and Esteban Rios, Assistant Professor of forage breeding and genetics.