New Promising Varieties for Organic Farmers

Here is where my bias for Northeast organic growers is going to come into play - not that I care more about the Northeast growers but just that I know more about the varieties that do well in the tumultuous conditions here... While working with the Public Seed Initiative and the Organic Seed Partnership, I have had the pleasure to work with several wonderful breeders from Cornell University's Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics. In particular, Molly Jahn (the originator or the PSI and OSP projects), George Moriarty and Matt Falise.

One of the goals of the PSI Project was to get some of the 1/2 finished varieties that were never picked up by larger seed companies out on the market for organic farmers to try and to complete. Here are some of the success stories from the PSI and OSP as far a new promising vegetable varieties:

"Sweet Reba" - a bush type acorn squash which produces early and has excellent powdery mildew resistance and heavy yields of black 1-2 lb. ribbed squash with dry flesh. 90 days - You can find Sweet Reba at High Mowing Seeds.

"Success PM" - Powdery mildew resistant early prolific straightneck available now from High Mowing Seeds.

"Hanna's Choice" mildew and poty virus resistant eastern cantaloupe with AMAZING TASTE!!! One of my favorites for sure!

This tasty "chef's melon" has outstanding flavor and sweetness (up to 14% Brix). Hannah's Choice holds well and has an impressive disease package. Has been trialed with success in Northwest greenhouses. Available at High Mowing and Osborne Seed

"PMR Delicious 51" a larger mildew resistant version of Delicious 51 available through High Mowing seed

"Peacework" Bell Pepper with amazing natural resistance to cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and an early producer! Definately one to keep your eye on!

The Plight of the Organic Farmer

From participating in farmer round tables (basically getting together with a large group of organic farmers from all over the country) and discussing different aspects of organic farming I've been able to get a fairly comprehensive list of problems that are faced by the small scale organic farmer...

(oh just as an FYI - the work I have been doing deals with small scale organic farms - farms that are no larger than say 10 acres - the vast majority of the organic farms I've been on are less than 3 acres and are very or are potentially very profitable given the proper circumstances - see my link to The Tiny Farm Blog - while I was never fortunate enough to have worked with the owners of this amazing farm, it gives a real good example of small scale organic farming...)

From discussions with growers, small organic seed companies, and plant breeders the number of available varieties seems to be the most prevalent concern. Large bio-engineering companies like Monsanto have purchased a large number of smaller seed companies and unfortunately Monsanto's main customers are gigantic conventional farms that care more about shipping quality than anything else... hence, the problem with organic farmers not having enough varieties - Monsanto, and like companies, could care less about the varieties that do well in micro-climates (which many organic growers live in), those varieties just don't make them enough money to be part of their inventory...

Organic farmers need varieties that can sustain in areas not "known" for agriculture... the varieties need to have natural disease and insect resistance, great taste, and good marketable yields... many organic farms are also located in areas not traditionally served by "town water" - irrigation is a luxury for most. Natural drought resistance, frost tolerance (for areas with short growing seasons), and adaptations to harsh environmental conditions are problems organic growers face every season....and those are just to name a few!

My next blog posts will concentrate on ways to combat these problems - I'll be writing about topics like horizontal resistance, participatory plant breeding (big fancy word for farmer-breeders), selection, and current available varieties that are very promising for organic varieties. Hope to see you there!

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...

Doing Something / Recycling

I was sent this video and absolutely love it - I couldn't wait to get it up here to share with all of you. Please take a few minutes to read the slides and really understand the message. This is such a simple way to help the environment, we all should be doing this and encouraging others as well!
Easy Living Organics

Best and Worst Sunscreens for the Kids

Everyday my girls want to go out swimming in the pool so everyday I'm drenching them in sunscreen... I started to think about what I was doing and I don't think I've ever even looked at the labels for the sunscreen I use - you see SPF-whatever and assume it's all safe... well, I was WRONG!

I recently signed up at the environmental working group website and was shocked when I received the latest newsletter talking about the best and worst sunscreens...they found that 4 out of 5 they tested (and they tested almost 1,000 brands!!) contained harmful chemicals - from cancer causing agents to developmental and reproductive toxins!! The Coppertone Waterbabies SPF 50 I've been using ranked horribly for allowing UVA exposure and containing chemicals I can't even pronounce... and I'm an environmental biologist???

Check out what's in the sunscreen you are putting on your kids..

My Yard is Feeling The Heat

As the July sun has been beaming down on my yard, it's feeling the heat - I'm not a yard water-er (my water footprint would be horrific!!) so I'm trying to decide what to do to help my hard beat the drought and the heat. In searching for drought resistant grasses I've found that most Fescue seems to be the most accepted drought tolerant grass available. Although not very tolerant to foot traffic, most fescues can get by with little to no summer watering in a cold season climate (like mine in NY) but from the map I found at fescue.com, it seems like the majority of the US (excluding the hottest portions) can plant fescue with success. Most fescues are shade and drought tolerant and will stay green all year! BONUS!

Fescues can be successful when direct and OVER seeded in NY in the fall to help with a great looking lawn in the spring and summer. Overseeding is probably the best method to stomping out all the weeds that invade our lawns throughout the spring.

So this fall, I'm looking at overseeding my lawn with a tall fescue (tall fescues - and older fescue varieties that were once thought of as weeds and for pasture forage, are now being used as staples in many cold season climates... ) The newer varieties of Tall Fescue have been developed to contain more natural disease and insect resistance as well as having better blade structure.

Blackberries!

It's wild blackberry season up in NY and my kids are loving it! My 3 year old daughter Emily's favorite pass time now is going out to the edges of the property and collecting bowlfuls of plump blackberries and sitting on the deck and chowing down on them! As you can see from her face - she gets more on her than in her! LOL