Monika Messmer made her PhD in plant breeding in Hohenheim in 1993. Since 2009 she is leading the plant breeding group at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) Switzerland. Her focus is on resistance breeding, breeding for mixed cropping systems, breeding for plant microbiome interaction and participatory cotton breeding. She is chair of the European Consortium for Organic Plant Breeding, board member of bioverita, and founding member of IFOAM Seeds Platform. She has been engaged in several national and European project and the scientific coordination of the EU projects LIVESEED and LiveSeeding.
‘Organic plant breeding is key for climate change adaptation and the integrity of the organic sector. Organic seed and plant breeding is the only alternative to new genomic techniques’.
