Abstract:
The role of both organic (OF) and conventional (CF) farming remains open to debate particularly when related to
food security and climate change. Targeting plant breeding for OF can contribute to reduce its yield gaps vis-à-vis CF.
Currently, the cultivars produced for CF are also used in OF, however, it is unreasonable that all lines bred for CF will
always perform well in OF. Nonetheless, plant breeding goals for OF and CF converge at aiming for high productivity,
host plant resistance or tolerance to biotic and abiotic factors, and high resource-use efficiency. Likewise end-use
quality and local adaptation may be more important for OF as the resource recycling and quality of the inputs that
are used vary from region to region, even though OF practices are highly regulated. This article provides an overview
on organic plant breeding (OPB) with a perspective from conventional plant breeding, highlights the main traits, their
source of variation, and what methods and tools are available for their breeding. It concludes listing some organic
crop breeding achievements and providing an outlook on what needs to be done for OPB.
