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For a complete description of plant breeding methods, the reader is referred to text by Fehr (1987). The pedigree method is the most widely used breeding system in beans because it provides opportunities to select for a broad array of traits with different genetic inheritance patterns – selection for qualitative traits in the early F₂–F₄ generations and selection in later F₅–F₇ generations for complex quantitative traits such as yield and quality. Early generation selection starts with selection based on single plants in the F₂ and is usually continued to the F₄ generation when plants are around 88% homozygous. At this stage, selection changes to a plant‐row or family basis and is continued over the next few generations with the use of increased replication to measure expression of complex traits such as yield and canning quality that require testing and confirmation over locations and years. Traits commonly selected in early generations are largely phenological such as flowering and maturity times, agronomic such as plant growth habit and plant architecture including plant height and resistance to lodging, disease resistance, and seed size, shape, and color. Although many of these traits are controlled by more than single genes, they are highly heritable and can easily be visually selected in the field and fixed genetically, producing essentially pure breeding lines. To speed up the process, breeders use greenhouses in the winter season to artificially screen for major gene disease resistances that may be difficult to evaluate in the field. Other programs use winter nurseries overseas to advance populations/lines one or two generations and in some instances select for the expression of valuable agronomic traits, such as tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses that occur naturally in these foreign locations.

Selection for yield and quality traits require that testing be conducted in the targeted production area, so continued later generation selection is usually restricted to those regions where the variety is intended to be grown. Extensive annual yield testing may be conducted by agronomists in addition to the breeder to determine adaptation within the production region. When these advanced F₇ lines begin to show potential as future varieties they are referred to as elite lines and made available to colleagues in other states where that seed type is grown. Information generated in other production areas may be used to support the release of new varieties. Fellow breeders are also interested in evaluating these elite lines not only for use in future local bean production but to use as parents in their breeding programs as these elite lines represent a valuable genetic resource. Most new varieties are the product of crosses between elite lines/varieties so future success is built on past success.

The final steps in the release of future new varieties are orchestrated by the breeder who collects and assembles data on the elite lines for agronomic, disease resistance, quality, and performance traits. A minimum of three to four years of yield testing over 20–30 location‐years is needed to support the release of a new variety. In addition to agronomic and disease resistance data, a battery of information on visual canning quality, texture, processed color is also needed. The complied information is reviewed by a committee(s) of breeders, agronomists, pathologists, food scientists, extensionists, and industry personnel to determine if the new elite line has characteristics superior to current varieties and has no recognized deficiency or weaknesses. In the case of public breeders, the final decision to release a new variety is made by university administration in agreement with the offices that handle intellectual property (IP) rights at the institution. For most public institutions, new varieties may be released under an exclusive license agreement to a specific company or more broadly to grower associations depending on interest and demand for the variety. Often a royalty fee, assessed on seed sales of the variety, is collected and returned to the university for distribution based on the institution’s IP policies.