SARE Farmer Grant Report - Jack Lazor 2008
Broadly stated, the goal of this grant was to support the development of a Vermont Farmers Breeding Club through the acquisition of breeding skills and techniques. There is considerable interest in selecting improved varieties to develop wheat of high baking and animal feed quality and suitable for our climate. We are interested in growing and selecting from modern cultivars and other heritage varieties such as ‘Red Fife’ to develop our own wheat varieties.
From the Introduction:
To acquire “hands-on” breeding skills we will attend an intensive short course on wheat breeding methods during the summer of 2007 under the supervision of Steve Jones – wheat and cereal breeder at Washington State University. We will also meet farmers in Washington that are working on their own breeding projects. We will bring our seeds of knowledge back to the farmers of the Organic Seed Initiative and pass along the skills needed to make new varieties to farmers across the region. During the winter of 2007, Dr. Jones will visit Vermont and work with the Organic Seed Initiative to develop a 5 year on-farm wheat breeding program. During the spring of 2007, Butterworks Farm will seed a small plot with common local cultivars and promising material from the WA wheat breeding program. Upon returning from the “hands-on” training we will practice our new techniques on Vermont ground. Success will be measured by the number of successful crosses that our smaller group can make on the given population.
The full 9 page report, providing details on the crosses, the methods, and an introduction to participatory breeding, can be found 2008 SARE Grant - Developing Varieties That Work For Us. From the summary:
Currently there are few cereal varieties being developed for organic farmers in New England. To address this situation organic farmers were trained to make their own wheat crosses and learn how to make selections from their new populations under organic management. Dr. Stephen Jones (Washington State University) provided a “hands-on” breeding course to farmers. In May of 2007, 19 heritage varieties of spring wheat were planted on a Vermont farm. The plots were one-row and seven feet in length. To select potential varieties for crossing, we evaluated the varieties 4 weeks prior to harvest and at harvest. The varieties were evaluated for standability, disease, general appearance, height, head size, and leafiness. From those results the top 10 performers were selected for crossing by the Washington State Wheat Breeding Program. The F1 progeny from these crosses were seeded in the spring of 2008 in Vermont. As a result of this project, we learned the real meaning of Participatory Plant Breeding. We continue to work at increasing seed lots of the 19 heritage wheat varieties. The goal is to be able to distribute the best heritage wheat and crosses to local farmers. We expect that this goal will be met in the next 2 to 3 years.
