Prioritizing Breeding

By visiting Organic Seed Alliance’s (OSA) website, you can find out exactly what the organization is all about: OSA “supports the ethical development and stewardship of the genetic resources of agricultural seed. We accomplish our goals through collaborative education, advisory services, and research programs with organic farmers and other seed professionals.”

Headquartered in Port Townsend, WA, OSA is working to help organic growers deliver the best organic crops they possibly can to consumers, and it all starts with seed. With that goal in mind, its soon-to-be published report called “The State of Organic Seed” provides insight into the needs and challenges of organic growers.

According to Kristina Hubbard, advocacy and communications director for OSA, one piece of the data collected for the report included a survey from more than 1,000 organic growers in 45 states. The report is the first comprehensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities in moving organic seed forward.

Specifically, the survey asked growers questions about organic seed usage and variety traits they would like to see improved. The report also analyzes public agricultural initiatives and how changes in funding have impacted the organic industry. To read the full report, go to www.seedalliance.org.

High Priority Crops

Growers who took part in the survey discussed their highest priority crops in need of organic breeding and crop improvement. According to the growers surveyed, the top three vegetable crops are tomatoes, brassicas, and winter and summer squash.

The growers also indicated the top three traits in these crops that are in need of improvement. For tomatoes — listed as the number one organic vegetable crop — most of the respondents said breeding for disease resistance is their number one priority. The other two top traits they would like to see improved were flavor and yield.

Survey results for the number two vegetable crop, which includes brassicas, indicated the top three traits are uniformity, disease resistance, and appearance of the fruit.

For winter and summer squash, nearly half of the growers surveyed also said better disease resistance is critical. Uniformity and better quality fruit rounded out the top three traits.

A Growing Industry

According to Hubbard, the organic industry is poised for continued growth. In April 2010, the Organic Trade Association revealed findings from its 2010 Organic Industry Survey, indicating that organic product sales in 2009 grew to reach more than $26 billion. Of that figure, $24.8 billion represented organic food.

“With this growth there is demand for organic seed,” says Hubbard. “The National Organic Program (NOP) requires growers to use organic seed; however, there currently is not enough organic seed available in some crop types, including varieties appropriate for different regions, so exceptions are made.”

On top of that, there are many questions about how best to enforce the NOP standards when it comes to seed. “We see inconsistency in how this rule is enforced among certifiers,” comments Hubbard. “The National Organic Standards Board provided guidelines to the NOP program, but for years the NOP staff didn’t respond to these guidelines. We feel strongly that they need to respond to the questions regarding the enforcement of the organic seed use requirement.”

Positive signs indicate that this situation is slowly being rectified. Hubbard says USDA’s NOP deputy administrator, Miles McEvoy, is responding to the situation and there are signs the NOP and certifiers alike are being tougher with the requirement to use organic seed.

“The increase in organic consumption necessitates the need to build the organic seed sector, but we must work as a diverse group of stakeholders in order to meet this demand,” she says. “While we would like to see 100% use of certified organic seed we understand that this can’t happen overnight.”

The NOVIC Project

Hubbard says projects OSA is helping to facilitate, such as the NOVIC (Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative) project, will help organic growers move closer to the goal of using certified organic seed. “The NOVIC project is designed to build regional decentralized farmer-centric feed systems where farmers and public breeders, universities, and organizations like Organic Seed Alliance are working together to bring new organic vegetable varieties to market that are appropriate for organic agriculture systems,” she says.

For example, one of the field days OSA’s education program was involved in last year highlighted work that was part of the NOVIC project, focusing on varieties suitable for growers in Washington state. This field trial honed in on taste.

“As part of this field trial, participants did taste testing and evaluated 18 varieties of carrots and table beets,” says Hubbard. “It is a good example of on-farm plant breeding with local farmers who are providing to their local markets and are going a step further to engage community members in the evaluation of varieties.”

Overcoming Challenges

These activities, says Hubbard, create a positive outlook for the organic seed industry. She, adds, however, that there are many challenges ahead, as well.

“The seed industry has increasingly become consolidated, important plant genetics are locked up by patents, and there are bigger policy and infrastructure issues that we will have to overcome,” she concludes. “In the end, though, we have to protect the integrity of organic.”