Plant Breeding Projects

Task

 We are developing a new variety of open-pollinated, open source varieties that will be shared through local seed libraries, including the Hall Middle School Seed Lending Library and the Seed Savers' Exchange Members' Exchange. 

• ​SeedFolks Popcorn 
• Evolutionary Wheat Breeding: Resilient Wheat
• Beefy Resilient Grex Dry Bush Bean

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Vocabulary

cob
ear
husks
pollen
tassels
silks
blight
​climate resilience
​resistance

open-pollinated
trait 
heirloom
​hybrid
GMO
plant breeding
​evolutionary plant breeding
isolation distance
​minimum population

hybrid vigor
genes/genetics
​zinnia effect
​characteristics
​selection
grex
uniformity
​landrace
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Loss of Genetic Diversity

In the last hundred years, thousands of local seed companies that have offered regionally adapted seeds have been lost. Many have been purchased by large chemical companies. ​Lately, even some of those giants, such as Monsanto, have been purchased by other companies such as Bayer. In order to have seeds that are more resilient in a time of changing climate, having locally grown seed that is more diverse will be essential. 

In 80 years we lost 93% of the varieties. Regionally-adapted varieties are not the focus of large companies with a national customer base. ​Preserving the remaining genetic diversity as well as breeding for local adaptations will be done by home gardeners and in schools. 

Focus Questions

• What characteristics do we want to breed for?
• What traits are dominant?
• What makes for a good popcorn? 
• How can we communicate our findings to others? (Note: It may take 7 years or longer to breed a new variety! Come back and visit us!)

Educator Resources

Seed Saving

Plant Breeding

• The Seed Garden by Seed Savers Exchange - a must-have book on seed saving; great for beginners to professionals
• Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth - the former standard book on seed saving; has more information on regional differences in seed saving than Seed Garden
• Introduction to Plant Breeding video 
  

• ​Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties - Carol Deppe
• The Organic Seed Grower - John Navazio
• Growing Food in Hotter, Drier Land: Lessons from Desert Farmers on Adapting to Climate Uncertainty - Gary Nabhan
• Open Source Seed Initiative​

Citizen Science 

Seed Libraries

There are a number of ways to engage your students in preserving heirlooms, trialing traditional and modern varieties (& analyzing for resilience), & breeding varieties for the future:

• ADAPT - Help Seed Savers Exchange, a seed conservancy nonprofit in the US, dedicated to preserving heirlooms of significance in our country.  Trial new varieties and collect data on how well the varieties do in your area. This will help them determine what varieties to offer in their catalog.
• RENEW - Seed Savers Exchange has lots of varieties in their collection. More than they can grow out. Help them grow out varieties in their collection for the benefit of society. 
• Heritage Grain Trials - The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance is a small seed conversancy project doing some amazing work on preserving heritage grains and collecting data on how they perform in different bioregions under different conditions. There is an application fee to help cover their expenses.​​

Seed libraries are a way to bring your curriculum to life and engage students to continue exploring the science at home in their own gardens. Create one in your own school garden. 

Seed Sources

Find some varieties that you are willing to steward. One idea is to get a copy of the Seed Trade Census book and look for seeds that are not widely available. Also, see if there are any regional seed companies that specialize in regionally-grown seed. Beware! much of the seed that is sold, even by small companies, is all being grown by the same growers and much of that is coming from China. Seed Savers Exchange also has an members' exchange. 

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