https://idl-bnc-idrc.dspacedirect.org/b ... -14258.pdf
[Edit: http://sharebooks.com/content/plant-bre ... l-robinson - this link is the author's original sharing location of all his books]
It is a 500 page book so just a little light reading.
"Seed saving is the first step to local food sovereignty and community self reliance/resilience, but actively breeding locally adapted food plants is the next step.
This book , Return to Resistance - Raoul Robinson (1994), gives a very good grounding in plant breeding via both the modern Mendelian approach and also the very much older, more wholistic biometric approach.
Modern plant breeding is increasingly moving into in the hands of biotech corporations and their Mendelian approach which is failing humanity in a number of ways including the ever increasing use of toxic rescue chemistry.
This book offers some ideas to buck that trend and take back what rightfully belongs to all humanity. One idea is that of Plant Breeding Clubs that work on a community scale to produce local cultivars via comprehensive horizontal resistance in food crops to suit local conditions.
I believe this to be the next step for local community based seed saving organisations.
Well worth a read for a greater understanding of plant genetics/breeding alone , even if you don’t take up the challenge." Paul Ward.