My Work as an Environmental Biologist

For the last 6 years I've been fortunate enough to be able to work with 2 CSREES (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service) grants - the Public Seed Initiative (PSI; 2002 - 2005) and the Organic Seed Partnership (OSP; 2005 - 2008). That's me discussing hand screening seed in the picture at an event at a farm in Moravia, NY that is known for it's Wind Energy Program. During these years, I've met literally thousands of dedicated organic farmers and farmer-breeders trying to make ends meet in organic farming.

Both grants focused on similar issues pertaining to organic vegetable farming:

• Plant Breeding,


• Variety Trials
  
• Seed Production.

Plant Breeding was chosen due to the low number of organic vegetable varieties available through commercial seed companies. In addition to adding to the number of current varieties available, the PSI and OSP also provided education to farmers. The grants staff provided on-site, hands-on opportunities to show how to breed vegetable varieties based on the farmer's own needs and farm's factors. Some qualities needed in the current selection of varieties included: disease resistance, drought tolerance, earliness, better taste, etc.

The second aspect of the PSI and OSP projects encompassed conducting on-site (meaning on certified organic and transitioning organic farms) vegetable variety trials through-out the country (the North East was more pivotal for the PSI project) to find out which varieties were working for organic farmers and which were not (along with those that just needed "tweaking" in areas for the breeding crew to handle).

The third aspect was seed production - this is my area of expertise... My "job" (and I put it in quotes because - I didn't really think of it as a job - more a a life long training opportunity that somehow I was lucky enough to stumble upon) was to visit organic farms throughout the Northeast from August til November toting a "Mobile Seed Production Unit". This Unit was filled to the gills with various pieces of manual and mechanical seed production equipment suitable for small-scale seed production on organic farms. I would take the unit to different organic farms and conduct a hands-on workshop with the local organic farmers teaching them to use the equipment and the basics of seed production- then leave the equipment there for the locals to use to clean their seed from the previous years harvest...

I feel honored to have been part of the work we accomplished with these programs and am saddened that we did not get re-newed for the upcoming growing season. For the next couple weeks - I'm hoping to concentrate my blogging efforts on spreading the wealth so to speak - I want to teach others what I was taught through my travels to organic farming communities... not only the agricultural aspects, but the ideology and the mentality of "living" on an organic farm and "living" an organic lifestyle... I hope you all enjoy it...