Most cauliflower varieties used in professional gardening nowadays are hybrids, many bred with CMS technology (Cytoplasmatic male sterility). René Groenen is working on the alternative: Open pollinated cauliflower varieties for professional organic gardening. Since 2000, Groenen is full time dedicated to the propagation of vegetable seeds and breeding of varieties. www.degroenenhof.nl
René Groenen is part of the vegetable breeders association Kultursaat e.V.
Romanesco is the fascinating vegetable that looks like a painting of M.C. Escher. Nowadays, all commercially grown varieties are hybrids. Johanna Fellner analysed six different conservation varieties of romanesco and started the breeding process to develop an open pollinated Romanesco variety that suits the needs of commercial organic gardening.
The farm “Dottenfelder Hof” close to Frankfurt is a centre for biodynamic farming, farming education and research in Germany. First activities in seed production and plant breeding here date back to the 1970ies. Most known varieties from Dottenfelder Hof comprise the carrot “Rodelika”,bred by Dieter Bauer, or the wheat variety “Butaro”, bred by Hartmut Spieß. Nowadays, a team of breeders is working on different vegetable and cereal varieties.
Research and Breeding on Dottenfelder Hof
With the vegetable breeding section, Dottenfelder Hof breeders are part of Kultursaat e.V.
On a multifaceted 60 ha vegetable farm in Northern Germany, Barbara Maria Rudolf, Heinz Peter Christiansen and Gesa Dalsgaard are breeding for even better organic carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. The trio initiatied the association Saat:gut e.V. in 2010, where farmers, seed traders and shopkeepers, breeders and other interested people work together for organic plant breeding.
The association Saat:gut e.V.
The farm: Christiansen's Biolandhof
“Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz” was founded in 1984, the company since then is active in organic cereal breeding. Together with his team, Peter Kunz mainly focusses on breeding spelt, wheat, triticale and maize varieties. Several varieties, such as Tauro, Samir and Ataro, have been bred and officially registered by Peter Kunz. Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz
Culinaris is an organic seed breeding initiative offering a carefully curated selection of varieties that thrive under low-input conditions, including homestead and hobby gardens. Varieties include rarities and entirely new selections, some of them were developed in the context of research projects. A key area of the breeding work is the development of outdoor tomatoes varieties. www.CULINARIS-saatgut.de
The Seed Co-operative is the UK's community owned seed company. They grow seeds for everyone, and for the health and well being of people and planet and believe passionately in breeding open pollinated seeds that everyone can grow, everyone can save for the next year, and everyone can afford. www.seedcooperative.org.uk
Most organic breeders work in close cooperation with organic farmers and gardeners, but some initiatives practice participatory seed production and breeding on a grassroot basis, often with a focus on organic farming. Many of these initiatives are represented by networks such as Reseau Semences Paysannes in France, Reti Semi Rurali in Italy or Red de Semillas in Spain. More information about participatory plant breeding can be found in scientific articles here.
Organic plant breeding activities are often conducted, supported, coordinated and analysed by researchers that dedicate their scientific life to organic plants. For example:
Establishing organic plant breeding needs many people – and good networks to connect them.
The European Consortium for Organic plant breeding (ECO-PB) involves breeders and scientists with the aim to initiate and support organic plant breeding programmes, as well as to develop scientific concepts of an organic plant breeding. www.eco-pb.org
Kultursaat e.V. is a platform for knowledge exchange and cooperation of organic vegetable breeders with the aim to preserve vegetable varieties with a value for organic farming, to breed new vegetable varieties, to make the development of new varieties transparent and to conduct breeding research.www.kultursaat.org
The IFOAM SEEDS Platform is a self-organized structure bringing together individuals and organizations to move forward on the issue of seed and plant breeding in Organic Agriculture.
LIVESEED is a 4-year project which will encourage greater use of organic seeds by farmers and develop innovative breeding approaches suited to organic farming. The LIVESEED project is coordinated by IFOAM EU and consists of 35 partners and 14 third linked parties from 18 countries.
DIVERSIFOOD will demonstrate the socio-economic value of on-farm seed systems, help at local and wider policy levels to increase food and environmental awareness, and improve multi-actor approaches to embed healthy and tasty local products in regional food chains.
A forerunner of these projects was SOLIBAM, which has developed strategies for organic and low input integrated breeding and management between 2010 and 2014.
One step at a time – we are a small team and quite busy, so we need some time to do more research and set up more portraits. If you want to contribute information to the website, please send an email to info[ / at \ ]organic-plant-breeding [ / dot \ ] org
Most cauliflower varieties used in professional gardening nowadays are hybrids, many bred with CMS technology (Cytoplasmatic male sterility). René Groenen is working on the alternative: Open pollinated cauliflower varieties for professional organic gardening. Since 2000, Groenen is full time dedicated to the propagation of vegetable seeds and breeding of varieties. www.degroenenhof.nl
René Groenen is part of the vegetable breeders association Kultursaat e.V.
Romanesco is the fascinating vegetable that looks like a painting of M.C. Escher. Nowadays, all commercially grown varieties are hybrids. Johanna Fellner analysed six different conservation varieties of romanesco and started the breeding process to develop an open pollinated Romanesco variety that suits the needs of commercial organic gardening.
The farm “Dottenfelder Hof” close to Frankfurt is a centre for biodynamic farming, farming education and research in Germany. First activities in seed production and plant breeding here date back to the 1970ies. Most known varieties from Dottenfelder Hof comprise the carrot “Rodelika”,bred by Dieter Bauer, or the wheat variety “Butaro”, bred by Hartmut Spieß. Nowadays, a team of breeders is working on different vegetable and cereal varieties.
Research and Breeding on Dottenfelder Hof
With the vegetable breeding section, Dottenfelder Hof breeders are part of Kultursaat e.V.
On a multifaceted 60 ha vegetable farm in Northern Germany, Barbara Maria Rudolf, Heinz Peter Christiansen and Gesa Dalsgaard are breeding for even better organic carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. The trio initiatied the association Saat:gut e.V. in 2010, where farmers, seed traders and shopkeepers, breeders and other interested people work together for organic plant breeding.
The association Saat:gut e.V.
The farm: Christiansen's Biolandhof
“Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz” was founded in 1984, the company since then is active in organic cereal breeding. Together with his team, Peter Kunz mainly focusses on breeding spelt, wheat, triticale and maize varieties. Several varieties, such as Tauro, Samir and Ataro, have been bred and officially registered by Peter Kunz. Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz
Culinaris is an organic seed breeding initiative offering a carefully curated selection of varieties that thrive under low-input conditions, including homestead and hobby gardens. Varieties include rarities and entirely new selections, some of them were developed in the context of research projects. A key area of the breeding work is the development of outdoor tomatoes varieties. www.CULINARIS-saatgut.de
The Seed Co-operative is the UK's community owned seed company. They grow seeds for everyone, and for the health and well being of people and planet and believe passionately in breeding open pollinated seeds that everyone can grow, everyone can save for the next year, and everyone can afford. www.seedcooperative.org.uk
Most organic breeders work in close cooperation with organic farmers and gardeners, but some initiatives practice participatory seed production and breeding on a grassroot basis, often with a focus on organic farming. Many of these initiatives are represented by networks such as Reseau Semences Paysannes in France, Reti Semi Rurali in Italy or Red de Semillas in Spain. More information about participatory plant breeding can be found in scientific articles here.
Organic plant breeding activities are often conducted, supported, coordinated and analysed by researchers that dedicate their scientific life to organic plants. For example:
Establishing organic plant breeding needs many people – and good networks to connect them.
The European Consortium for Organic plant breeding (ECO-PB) involves breeders and scientists with the aim to initiate and support organic plant breeding programmes, as well as to develop scientific concepts of an organic plant breeding. www.eco-pb.org
Kultursaat e.V. is a platform for knowledge exchange and cooperation of organic vegetable breeders with the aim to preserve vegetable varieties with a value for organic farming, to breed new vegetable varieties, to make the development of new varieties transparent and to conduct breeding research.www.kultursaat.org
The IFOAM SEEDS Platform is a self-organized structure bringing together individuals and organizations to move forward on the issue of seed and plant breeding in Organic Agriculture.
LIVESEED is a 4-year project which will encourage greater use of organic seeds by farmers and develop innovative breeding approaches suited to organic farming. The LIVESEED project is coordinated by IFOAM EU and consists of 35 partners and 14 third linked parties from 18 countries.
DIVERSIFOOD will demonstrate the socio-economic value of on-farm seed systems, help at local and wider policy levels to increase food and environmental awareness, and improve multi-actor approaches to embed healthy and tasty local products in regional food chains.
A forerunner of these projects was SOLIBAM, which has developed strategies for organic and low input integrated breeding and management between 2010 and 2014.
One step at a time – we are a small team and quite busy, so we need some time to do more research and set up more portraits. If you want to contribute information to the website, please send an email to info[ / at \ ]organic-plant-breeding [ / dot \ ] org