OSA’s classical plant breeding work is featured in this spring’s Edible Seattle magazine. The piece focuses on our Olympic Sweet Corn project, a participatory plant breeding effort to develop an organic sweet corn for farmers in the cool, maritime climates of the Pacific Northwest. We’re working in partnership with farmers on the Olympic Peninsula, Bill Tracy of University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC), and the Port Townsend Food Co-op on this exciting project that’s now in its third year.
The Olympic Sweet Corn Project is one example of a contemporary approach that relies on the same classical techniques used for millennia, supported by a modern understanding of genetics, increased coordination across state and national lines, and a collaborative approach that links farmers, scientists, and produce buyers to create something that benefits everybody — including the growers and eaters of tomorrow.
