Meet the Vegetable Industry’s Biggest Dreamers

By Carol Miller|December 13, 2017

Agriculture mixes fatalism, pragmatism, and idealism. Fatalism due to the power weather wields over the fate of any given year’s harvest. Pragmatism stems from the scientific nature of growing — every plant needs predictable inputs, days for growth, and reliable postharvest measures to succeed. And the idealism is an automatic requirement for anyone who depends on the weather for success.

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Dustin Batt and Mark Jones (far left and far right) from Crookham Company work with a taste-testing program that has resulted in highly popular sweet corn varieties.
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Kyle Bryant with Abbott and Cobb aims for genetic diversity and developing a higher level of natural resistance in his sweet corn.
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Seeds by Design's Patty Buskirk is focused on the end consumer with her breeding, resulting in many niche crops.
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Nihat Guner from Sakata Seed America says his team has been integrating current core disease resistances along with future upcoming diseases that could be destructive to the watermelon industry.
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Doug Heath with Bejo Seeds elevates taste and color along with disease resistance in his tomatoes.
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Bill Johnson with Sakata Seed America is developing a series of high-yielding baby leaf spinach that will be appropriate for every growing season.
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Rakesh Kumar from Syngenta is solving common Eastern and Western shipper melon challenges, mainly a short shelflife and a demand for a lot of labor.
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Bill McCarthy from Seminis Seeds has introduced bell peppers with resistance to 10 strains of bacterial leaf spot and is working on adding Phytophthora resistance, too.
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Pat Mosely with H.M. Clause crosses genetics inherited from Mesa Maize with H.M. Clause germplasm, which has resulted in high-eating quality sweet corn.
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Felix Serquen with VoloAgri just released a breakthrough series of Fusarium 3 tomato hybrids for customers to trial.

When you look at the different people in the industry, you’ll find a mix of these different elements. With their scientific training, breeders have a healthy dose of practicality. But they pour all that training into creating crops that will solve as many of the industry’s problems as possible. They want plants that can resist the biggest pests, that will ship well, harvest easily, and taste amazing to consumers.

In other words, they are always on the hunt for the Holy Grail.

Scroll through the slideshow above to see some of today’s top breeders, selected by their seed companies as the ones who are introducing some of the most exciting vegetables the industry has seen.