Plant Breeding Institute

Rowland Biffen was the first director, and was close with William Bateson who was leading studies of heredity in Cambridge following the rediscovery of the pioneering genetic research of Gregor Mendel in 1900.

[1][2] Biffen began studying cereal breeding in the early 1900s with the aim of producing improved varieties for farmers and millers, and also to test whether Mendel's laws applied to wheat.

The first research students were J. W. Lesley – who later made important contributions to the genetics of the tomato[3] – and Frank Engledow, who later became Drapers Professor of Agriculture.

[1][6] The National Institute of Agricultural Botany was established in 1919 in order to separate the commercial aspects of varietal improvement from the more academic pursuits at the PBI.

[9] Yeoman II was released in 1925 but was a commercial failure, and marked the high point of Mendelian thinking in UK plant breeding.

[10][11] Unlike his predecessor, Hunter disputed the necessity of Mendelian thinking to varietal improvement, instead believing that success relied on finding parents with desirable traits and crossing them with existing popular varieties.

[15][24] In 2004, Monsanto sold the wheat breeding part of the business to RAGT Seeds and in 2008 the institute moved from Trumpington to a new headquarters in Essex, between Sawston and Saffron Walden.