Follow Organic Seed Alliance

Breeding for Organics

Due to the lack of plant varieties that have been developed or screened in organic (or other low-input) systems, most organic producers rely on conventionally- bred varieties that have been selected to perform well under high-input chemical systems. Fundamental to the success of organic agriculture is the use of plant varieties that are most suitable to organic production challenges and methods. If any aspect of the variety is not suited to the on-farm conditions then the farmer must add inputs to mitigate crop stress. Organic farmers have only a limited number of organically acceptable inputs that can be used to combat production problems and therefore strive to prevent crop stress predominantly through variety selection, crop rotation, and soil management strategies. While much progress has been made in recent years to investigate and develop best management practices for crop rotation and soil management in organic systems, little has been done to develop and test varieties that are best suited to organic systems; a strategy that, over time, could be equally important.

Organic Breeding Objectives

Organic Seed Alliance promotes breeding objectives that support a sustainable agricultural system, recognize local ecological systems and address food consumer needs. These include:

* Insect and disease resistance
* Weed management or competition
* Optimization of plant nutrient systems
* Minimize soil impact
* Support of whole-farm ecology
* Minimize off-farm impacts
* Heat or drought tolerance
* Adaptability to soil quality
* Pollution tolerance
* Improved nutrition for consumer
* Development of crops for low resource populations
* Improved crop yields in organic systems
* Promotion of the economics of sustainability by preserving and developing key crop varieties that fill niches not met by industrial agricultural paradigm