Ask Your Senators to Support Public Seed in the Farm Bill

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Kristina Hubbard

Senator Jon Tester is introducing a Farm Bill amendment next week that aims to reinvigorate classical plant breeding and public cultivar development.

Call your senators today and ask them to support Senator Tester’s Farm Bill amendment to improve seed choices for American farmers and strengthen U.S. agriculture.

What this means: Establishing classical plant breeding (or “conventional,” field-based selection) as a priority for public research is critical to the competitiveness and resiliency of U.S. agriculture. Farmers constantly face changing climate, insect, weed, and disease pressures that vary by region, and they lament reduced options in regionally appropriate seed cultivars held in the public domain. Crops must continuously be adapted to meet these changes, and the most productive approach is to have seeds adapted to the same environment as their intended use through classical plant breeding.

Find your senators here or call the Senate switchboard and they’ll connect you: (202) 224-3121.

The message is this: “As the Senate debates the 2013 Farm Bill, I urge you to support the amendment sponsored by Senator Tester that aims to reinvigorate classical plant breeding to ensure farmers have the seed they need to be successful. Developing regionally appropriate seed varieties held in the public domain is paramount to the success of U.S. agriculture.”

Classical plant breeding is cost-effective, proven, and the best source of the diverse, complex traits that allow farmers and researchers to respond to changing conditions, new challenges, and new market opportunities. It’s not controversial, it has obvious benefits for researchers and consumers, and it’s good for every American farmer, no matter what kind of crop they choose to grow.

Your call will help ensure that public research dollars deliver diverse, public seed choices to American farmers.

More talking points and background after the jump.

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Call for Organic Variety Trial Results

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Cathleen McCluskey

Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) is a proud partner in the Organic Variety Trial Database — the only searchable site of its kind that includes hundreds of organic variety trial results from across the country. The Organic Variety Trial Database is an excellent tool in sharing results of organic variety trials with farmers, gardeners, and researchers across the country.

We invite submissions of scientific trial reports conducted in organic systems to include. The trials should be replicated and be evaluated using documented methods.

This database was created as part of the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC) project, as USDA-NIFA funded project including Organic Seed Alliance, Washington State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oregon State University, Cornell University, and USDA-ARS. Now in its fourth year, the Organic Variety Trail Database includes results from the NOVIC project and hundreds of other trials from around the country.

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Farmer Seed Stewardship: Nancy Redfeather & Gerry Herbert

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Kristina Hubbard

Nancy Redfeather and Gerry Herbert
Kawanui Farm
Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i

Nancy Redfeather of Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, remembers the exact moment she became a seed saver.

“I was at a three-day conference with John Jeavons of Bountiful Gardens/Grow Biointensive here in Hawai’i in the winter of 1994,” she says. “He was quoting a new Food and Agriculture Organization seed study that predicted 95 percent of all seed varieties grown in the U.S. in 1900 would be extinct by 2005. I fell off my chair.”

Nancy asked herself, “How could this have happened? This was the seed that kept our ancestors alive.”

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OSA’s Senior Scientist Dr. Navazio Recognized by American Horticultural Society

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Cathleen McCluskey

Organic Seed Alliance’s (OSA) Dr. John Navazio has received an award from the American Horticultural Society (AHS) for his book, The Organic Seed Grower. Each year the society recognizes outstanding gardening books published in North America. Dr. Navazio was one of six authors recognized in 2013.

“I am truly honored by this award,” said Navazio. “To have an organization like the American Horticultural Society recognize the importance and need for an advanced seed growing manual for organic farmers is fantastic. I wrote this book to build a foundation of knowledge for any grower to safeguard and improve the seed of the crops that we depend on for our livelihood and sustenance. The importance of having well-maintained seeds of our crops in the hands of many people can not be underestimated in our quest to have agricultural communities thrive and flourish long into the future.”

The Organic Seed Grower is a comprehensive manual for the serious vegetable grower who is interested in growing high-quality seed using organic farming practices. Detailed profiles for each of the major vegetables provide users with practical, in-depth knowledge about growing, harvesting, and processing seed for a wide range of common and specialty vegetable crops, from Asian greens to zucchini.

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OSA Partners on Organic Wheat Trials in California

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Jared Zystro

Organic Seed Alliance and project partners have just finished planting organic wheat trials in Northern California. On three beautiful mornings this spring, farmer John LaBoyteaux towed his vintage International Harvester grain drill out to plant eight different varieties of wheat on three organic farms in the area. LaBoyteaux, Jared Zystro of Organic Seed Alliance, and David Lewis of University of California Extension–Marin are conducting wheat variety trials in organic fields at Marin Roots Organic Farm in Marin County, Front Porch Farm in Sonoma County, and College of the Redwoods Organic Farm in Humboldt County.

These are large replicated trials intended to help identify wheat varieties that will thrive on organic farms in the rainfed environments of northern California. Organic wheat production is taking off in Northern California and organic farmers have specific challenges that make it important to identify the best varieties for them. These challenges include weed competition and less readily available nitrogen.

The trial includes soft white and hard red spring wheat varieties, with a mixture of heirloom and publicly developed modern varieties represented. Researchers are comparing the performance of the varieties based on traits including maturity, disease resistance, height, resistance to lodging, yield, and protein content. At the end of the season, the results from the trials will be published and made available in the Organic Variety Trial Database.

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Invitation for Input and Proposals

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Cathleen McCluskey

Organic Seed Alliance and conference co-hosts Oregon State University, eOrganic, and Washington State University invite you to help shape the 7th Organic Seed Growers Conference by providing proposals for content. This is your opportunity to share important research and ask timely questions related to organic seed. The conference is the only event that brings together diverse members of the organic seed community in two days of presentations and networking events focused solely on organic seed. We welcome your proposals for presentations, workshops, posters, panels, and roundtables.

Conference attendees receive practical information, cutting edge research, updates on policy and seed advocacy efforts, and inspiring stories from the field. The 7th Organic Seed Growers Conference theme is Innovation in the Field, a celebration of advancements in organic seed and the role farmers play in improving our crop genetic resources. While we welcome a diversity of proposals, those that fit the following categories are encouraged: Continue reading →

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Did You Miss the California Seed Stakeholder Meeting?

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Jared Zystro

At EcoFarm in January, OSA hosted a second California seed stakeholders meeting. More than two dozen seed producers, seed company representatives, university representatives, and seed buyers met to discuss how to improve seed systems in California. Below are a few issues that were identified as needs.

Information Sharing and Mentoring: Many seed producer participants spoke to how the complexity of the seed industry, both in production and marketing, presents a challenge for producers who want to work in new crops or new markets. Seed producers are often geographically separated and have less of a chance to “talk shop.” As a result of the discussion, OSA has launched the California Organic Seed Producers Forum, a listserve that allows seed producers to easily share, ask, and answer questions of one another. Please contact Jared Zystro for more information.

Variety Information Sharing: Many of the farmers present identified the need for information sharing tools for sharing variety performance results. Participants described a “Seed Wiki” where farmers could annotate varieties on-line with information. OSA is working on projects that fill this need. The first project is an addition to eOrganic’s Organic Variety Trial Database. The new system will allow farmers to include comments along with the existing information from formal trials.

Fostering Direct Relationships: A number of farmers at the meeting expressed a desire to directly interact with seed producers. They want to form relationships to share their needs with independent seed producers and potentially enter into custom seed production contracts. Following the stakeholders meeting, Steve Peters of Seed Revolution has been organizing farmer / seed purchaser groups in the Capay Valley and the San Juan Bautista / Hollister area to identify their needs and connect them with custom seed from organic seed producers.

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Purple is the New Green: Winter Sprouting Broccoli

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Micaela Colley

Winter fields in Port Townsend, and the rest of the Pacific Northwest, generally offer little to eat. Organic Seed Alliance’s variety trial and breeding work focused on winter season extension will change that.

We recently had the pleasure of evaluating (and tasting!) our winter sprouting broccoli project. The breeding goals are to produce a crop that reliably overwinters in the region, and that has flavorful, consistent, four to five inch heads, born on highly productive shoots with tender stems. This project is a collaboration with Organically Grown Company, the largest all-organic produce distributor in the Pacific Northwest. OGC is investing in the project to expand access to regionally grown, organic produce.

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Going to Seed: Year Two of Carrot Research

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Micaela Colley

Color, flavor, nutrition, top strength, vigor, shape, and smoothness are all qualities under consideration as we select carrot roots this month to replant for breeding populations as part of the Carrot Improvement for Organic Agriculture (CIOA) project. OSA senior breeder, Dr. John Navazio, recently returned from evaluating a wide diversity of breeding populations from around the world grown this winter in the warmth of El Centro, CA. In 2013 we will continue to evaluate promising carrot populations on organic and conventional farms in Washington, Wisconsin, Indiana, and California with the goal of identifying traits important in organic farming systems. In 2013 six promising populations including orange, purple, and red materials will be grown on organic farms in Washington as part of the OSA participatory plant breeding program.

You can help! Farmer participation is critical to the success of CIOA. We depend on feedback from farmers to prioritize our breeding and variety trial objectives. If you are a farmer who grows carrots of any color, let us know which varieties you currently grow and which quality traits are important to you.

Email Cathleen McCluskey to weigh in on our organic carrot trials with the following information: varieties you use, qualities of highest importance, your location, and your primary market (i.e. wholesale, farmers markets, other).

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Seeding Canola, Ceding the Willamette

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Kristina Hubbard

The debate around canola production in Oregon’s Willamette Valley is not new. For years proponents have lobbied to remove planting restrictions to encourage canola production for biofuel. (See OSA’s statement from 2007.) The canola exclusion zones were put in place after substantial research and community dialogue. They protected the region’s unique growing conditions, which support myriad agricultural sectors, including many important vegetable seed and food crops.

Last year the controversy grew to a new level when the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) adopted a temporary rule that allowed canola production in areas where it was previously banned. The temporary rule was quickly terminated after the ODA was bombarded with protest from the food and farming community, in addition to a successful legal action that resulted in the Oregon Court of Appeals stepping in to stop it. But since that success, the ODA has adopted a final rule that expands canola production in the Willamette Valley and threatens to diminish an invaluable region for seed production.

While questions and issues are seemingly regional in scope, canola production in the Willamette Valley affects specialty seed production decisions – and potentially the diversity of seed options – across the U.S. as well as overseas.

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