Higher yields are always a top priority for plant breeders developing new crop varieties, but yield itself is the result of a combination of different factors, including resistance to disease threats, maturity timing, and harvestability. These characteristics are all taken into consideration when screening and developing new edible bean varieties, explains Anfu Hou, bean breeder at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Research and Development Centre at Morden, Man., in this Edible Bean School episode. When it comes to increasing disease resistance, bacterial blight, anthracnose, sclerotinia (or white mould), and root rots are the main targets for Hou's team in Manitoba. "When we talk about the genetics, some traits are controlled by single genes. It's one gene, you're good with it. Anthracnose resistance, you introduce that gene, you're good. But there are traits, like a root rot, like quality traits, they are controlled by multiple genes, and they are often