Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Agronomic: barley, canola, corn, cotton, flax, millet, oats, peanuts, potatoes, rapeseed, rice, rye, safflower, spelt, soybeans, sugarbeets, sugarcane, sunflower, wheat, grass (misc. perennial), hay
- Fruits: melons, berries (strawberries)
- Vegetables: sweet potatoes, artichokes, beans, beets, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucurbits, eggplant, garlic, greens (leafy), lentils, onions, parsnips, peas (culinary), peppers, rutabagas, turnips, brussel sprouts
- Additional Plants: tobacco, herbs, native plants, ornamentals
Practices
- Animal Production: feed/forage
- Crop Production: cover crops, organic fertilizers
- Education and Training: extension, technical assistance
- Farm Business Management: whole farm planning, new enterprise development, risk management
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity
- Pest Management: cultural control, disease vectors, prevention
- Production Systems: agroecosystems
- Sustainable Communities: new business opportunities
Proposal abstract:
As the market for organic vegetables has grown, the supply of high quality organic seed has not kept pace. Production of high quality organic seed has been identified as a major need for organic farmers in the Western U.S. and worldwide. The western U.S. has long been a world supplier of vegetable seed and organic vegetables, which makes it uniquely situated to produce organic vegetable seed. Seed companies want to expand their production of organic seed to meet this growing demand but they face many obstacles, including: 1) the small number of experienced organic seed producers and 2) the absence of a national database on organic seed availability.
This project will build on existing efforts to develop resources and deliver information to agricultural professionals working with two target groups: 1) organic vegetable growers interested in seed production and 2) conventional seed growers interested in growing organically. Project partners 1) have considerable experience and expertise in organic seed production and planning, organic vegetable production, disease diagnostics and management, and organic plant breeding, 2) host an organic seed database, and 3) collaborate with university extension and research faculty, agricultural professionals, and organic and conventional seed growers. The partners will bring all of these resources together to produce the materials, trainings, and seed database.
In year one the project partners (Organic Materials Research Institute, Oregon State University, and the Organic Seed Alliance) will develop, review, and publish an Organic Seed Guide, an Organic Seed Database, and the Second Edition of the Guidebook on Organic Principles and Practices. The Seed Guide and Guidebook will be available as free downloadable files and will be provided to short course and conference participants as print publications. The Seed Database will be a national publicly available web-based service. In year two, the project emphasis will shift to outreach. Two short courses (one focusing on the needs of conventional seed growers and the other on the needs of organic vegetable growers) and a two-day organic seed conference based on the Organic Seed Guide will be held. Project partners as well as other university extension and research faculty, agricultural professionals, and organic and conventional seed growers will develop, deliver, and evaluate short course and conference content. To ensure that outputs reach the target audiences, partners will ‘market’ publications, the seed database, and the short courses and conference to university and industry professionals through industry and scientific associations, regional seed associations, and agricultural news media.
The short-term outcome of this project will be an increase in knowledge of university agricultural professionals about organic seed production strategies, the market for organic seed, and the availability of materials and trainings on this subject. The longer-term outcomes will be a higher level of skill in providing information on organic production and specialty seed production by university extension faculty and specialty seed professionals, and a strong, collaborative, western region technical support system for the organic vegetable seed industry. Short-term outcomes will be evaluated through written evaluations of publications, short courses and the conference, as well as through a post-event feedback instrument. Usage and hits to the organic seed database will be tracked. Agricultural professional attendance at the organic seed conference, collaborative outreach activities, use of the seed database and the project publications, and quantity and quality of organic seed produced will be documented to evaluate longer-term outcomes.
Project objectives from proposal:
Short-term objective: an increase in knowledge of university extension and research faculty, other agricultural professionals, and conventional and organic seed farmers about organic seed production strategies, the market for organic seed, and the availability of materials and trainings on this subject.
Medium-term objective: a higher level of skill in providing information on organic production and specialty seed production by university extension faculty and specialty seed professionals.
Long-term objective: a strong, collaborative, western region technical support system for the organic vegetable seed industry, and a thriving organic seed industry.