Laurie McKenzie

Laurie McKenzie is Research and Education Associate for the Pacific Northwest region and one of OSA’s vegetable breeders. She manages OSA’s research farm in Chimacum, WA, where she conducts breeding projects, vegetable variety trials, and seed production on a variety of crops. Laurie has authored and co-authored several publications and taught dozens of classes and workshops on seed production and plant breeding. She received her M.S. in Horticulture and Plant Breeding from Oregon State University in 2012 and has over a decade of farming and seed production experience. Laurie focuses on breeding for organic production systems using participatory strategies. She is currently working on several collaborative breeding projects focused on cabbage, kale, carrots, Swiss Chard, and purple sprouting broccoli. In her spare time Laurie enjoys creating her budding homestead, playing with her farm animals, and growing flowers in the garden.