Today’s Agenda

• Welcome and role call

• Web-conferencing / webinar show-and-tell– John McQueen (OSU) and Deb Heleba (UVM)

• What's going on in the North– Round-robin intros about organic seed and breeding

projects (5 min each)

• Brainstorming of Priority Topics

• Next steps

Role Call• Micaela Colley, Organic Seed

Alliance, micaela@seedalliance.org• Heather Darby, University of

Vermont, heather.darby@uvm.edu• Walter Goldstein, Michael Fields

Agricultural Institute, wgoldstein@michaelfieldsaginst.org

• Steve Jones, Washington State University, joness@wsu.edu

• Anne Kirk, University of Manitoba, kirk@cc.umanitoba.ca

• Frank Kutka, North Dakota State University, frank.kutka@ndsu.edu

• Jack Lazor, Butterworks Farm, butterworksfarm@pshift.com

• Richard Little, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, rlittle2@unlnotes.unl.edu

• Klaas Martens, Lakeview Organic Grains, kandmhfarm@sprintmail.com

• Tom Michaels, University of Minnesota, michaels@umn.edu

• Vicki Morrone, Michigan State University, sorrone@msu.edu

• Kevin Murphy, Washington State University, kmurphy2@wsu.edu

• Jim Orf, University of Minnesota, orfxx001@umn.edu

• Theresa Podoll, Prairie Road Organic Farm, dtpodoll@drtel.net

• Peter Sexton, South Dakota State University, peter.sexton@sdstate.edu

• Margaret Smith, Cornell University, mes25@cornell.edu

• Karri Stroh, Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society, directornpsas@drtel.net

• Steve Zwinger, North Dakota State University, steve.zwinger@ndsu.edu

Web-conferencing / WebinarShow-and-Tell

• Adobe Connect• GoToMeetings• Elluminate

• Visuals provided through computer with high-speed Internet connection

• Audio provided through computer and/or phone

• Typically use ppts, etc.• Polling available for

evaluation.

GoToWebinarshttp://www.gotomeeting.com/fec/

Whiteboard: upload ppts

Chat pod

Participant List

Elluminate Live! See: www.elluminate.com

Additional Tools

Features Screen Sharing and more….

What’s going on in the North?

Round-robin intros about organic seed and breeding projects (5 min each)

www.sdstate.edu/ps/news/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=887385

Desired outcomes for an online conference:• Increased awareness of

developments in organic seed and breeding across the prairies

• Increased knowledge among NGO and University staff

• Increased knowledge among farmers• More farmer and breeder

partnerships will be formed. • New linkages for more organic

breeding projects in the near future• More on-farm breeding projects will

be initiated. • Improved acceptance and

encouragement of engaging in organic plant breeding at our universities - resources, culture, capacity to fund and publish organic breeding research, etc.

• I hope to learn more about the main issues faced by organic producers

• Stronger coordination amongst those of us engaged in organic plant breeding - data sharing, evaluation networks, germplasm exchange, more collaborative proposals

• Ideas for expanding participatory plant breeding program

• Know who will work together on integrated grant proposals

• I need to figure out whether it would be useful to breed bean for organic production

• New varieties will be released that are a result of these partnerships.

Topics to be covered:•Would be good to somehow connect farmers with

breeders that would like to begin on-farm breeding project.

•Would be good to talk about how farms and breeders and others can work collaboratively.

•What aspects of breeding will be left to breeders and where can farmers join the process.

• How to help farmers start their own breeding projects or make sure that they have the proper resources to conduct breeding on their farms.

• Increasing farmer and end-user involvement

• Starting up a participatory breeding program

• How to increase communication between researchers and farmers (what are farmers looking for in organic variety selection?)

• Concept of Participatory Plant Breeding

• How to get connected

• Participatory breeding models in the US - what's working?•Who is Who in organic breeding in North America

and their priorities• Regionalizing our breeding network and research

efforts: Advisory groups for multi-state research• Interfacing with state seed certification agencies• Developing a network for organic breeding materials

cataloging and exchange• Development of alternative Intellectual Property

models for participatory and organic breeding• Barriers to breeding for organic agriculture• Barriers to growing organically certified seed• Seed production, distribution, availability• Increasing the availability of organic certified seed

and if farmers would purchase it•Minor crops breeding needs• Value of unique market classes (like heritage bean

types) in local organic markets relative to standard commercial classes. •Managing weeds, weeds and more weeds

Next Steps