Seed growers, researchers and agricultural professionals gathered beside research plots at Oregon State University’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center, then moved among flowering lettuce, squash and rows of brassicas to see research aimed at answering basic questions for organic seed producers.
The Aug. 19 OSPREY Seed Summit and Field Tour, presented by Oregon State University and the Organic Seed Alliance, offered an up-close look at work underway through OSPREY, short for Organic Seed Production Research on Economics and Yield. The national project is addressing a shortage of research-based information about how management practices affect organic vegetable seed production.
Organic Seed Alliance leads the four-year, $3.4 million project, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Organic Research and Extension Initiative. OSU Extension researchers Kristie Buckland and Cynthia Ocamb are among the project investigators.
Research partners are conducting trials across the country while participating growers contribute information from their own farms. The project is examining four core crops — broccoli, lettuce, squash and tomato — and eventually will combine research results and grower-contributed information in a freely available seed-yield database and economic decision-making tools.
Source : oregonstate.edu