This book presents a series of thematic chapters with a clear focus on genetic improvement. Chapter 2 provides an introduction to plant and crop genetics, Chapter 3 examines germplasm collections in the two oil palm species, while Chapter 4 focuses on methods for breeding qualitative and quantitative traits. Chapter 5 gives detailed examples of these target traits within oil palm breeding and Chapters 6 and 7 some of the applied breeding programs as examples. The current state of clonal propagation is presented in Chapter 8. The potential applications of “omics” and next-generation sequencing are presented in Chapter 9. The potential of hybrids between the two species is examined in Chapter 10. Chapter 11 goes on to examine how all this is translated through to commercial material. Chapter 12 examines how new material is assessed in breeding field trials. Being a perennial tree crop represents a challenge for breeding and phenotyping for genetic improvement. Chapter 13 discusses issues which are major challenges for the future in this crop, using current research and approaches in other crops and systems for promising routes for phenotyping, future breeding, and genetic improvement in oil palm, with a summary of future perspectives on crop sustainability from one of the pioneers of oil palm physiology and breeding, Dr. Hereward Corley. Chapters have been authored through a single contribution (often one of the editors) or contributions combined from research and industry experts active in the field of discussion. The overall aim of this book is to provide an up-to-date perspective on oil palm breeding and genetics from the people actively involved. The breeding of many crops has been or will be revolutionized by the new high-throughput approaches, but how they are applied and how much of an impact they make is determined by the same factors which make each crop, and the agriculture and uses of each crop, unique.