Market Growers > From the Field > Field Report: Market Growers

Field Report: Market Growers

by Micaela Colley

In addition to our Research Farm trials this year we are expanding our Organic On-Farm Trial Program and developing alliances with some public programs. This will allow us to expand our information base and ensure that we are providing the best information and selecting the best varieties for organic market growers.

This year over twenty organic farms across the continent are growing our varieties to collect data on traits such as vigor, pest and disease resistance, uniformity, productivity, and marketability. By trialing our varieties on working organic farms, we are able to speak first-hand about their performance in organic growing conditions across varied regions as well as their popularity in the market place.

The market growers in our on-farm trial program are leaders in organic farming who have become successful through their forward thinking and recognition that a good farmer is one who is constantly researching new farming methods, variety selections, and market outlets. We will be looking to them to help identify what traits make a good organic variety and to report to us their customer feedback.

Although most of the public breeding programs have become proprietary and are exclusively serving the needs of large seed conglomerates, we are encouraged by a few programs that are making efforts to develop public domain varieties and outreach to the small farm community. This year our Seeds of Change lettuces will be included in disease resistance trials through the USDA lettuce breeding program in Salinas California. At our Research Farm we will be trialing some cucumber and melon varieties bred for disease resistance and offered through the Cornell Public Seed Initiative. In addition, several of our varieties are being grown by the Colorado State University Specialty Crops Department. We will also be working with the University of California, Davis Student Farm, which is run as a working organic farm, to trial several Seeds of Change varieties in the hot central valley of California. The UC Davis Farm will be evaluating our varieties for agronomic characteristics important to market growers and also selling our produce through their CSA and Farmers Market to get feedback from organic consumers. We're working to foster more of these collaborations with our public institutions in the future to select and develop varieties for the organic community.

As the season progresses we'll keep you updated on our Market Grower Trials. Please feel free to contact us with any feedback or information about our Bulk Seed Selection or write to grower@seedsofchange.com.

Look for us this year at the Heartland Celebration May 3rd, in Stevinson, California (http://www.eco-farm.org/heartland/heart.html) where we'll have samples of our garden and bulk seed selection.

From the field,
Micaela Colley, Bulk Seed Rep.