Establishing breeding priorities and developing cultivars for organic vegetable growers in the Northeast

Abstract

The goal of the work outlined in this thesis was to employ the techniques of plant breeding while engaging farmers in dialogue about priorities for the organic vegetable production community. This thesis details an effort to hear from Northeastern farmers about the traits that matter to them in the crop varieties they grow, and describes breeding projects to develop new varieties of bell pepper and winter squash for organic vegetable farmers in the northern US. Chapter One reviews research related to breeding for organic production and briefly introduces the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC), a partnership of public plant breeding programs developing new vegetable varieties suited to organic management. Chapter Two describes work done in 2015 to hear from organic vegetable growers in the Northeast in order to establish breeding, research and education priorities to strengthen organic production in the region. The third and fourth chapters detail the goals, process, and results to date of specific breeding projects under NOVIC.