why organic seed? - new mexico taste the...

Why Organic Seed?

Erica Renaud, PhDRegional Business ManagerVitalis Organic Seeds, North America

New Mexico Organic Farming ConferenceFebruary 18, 2017

Why Organic Seed?

Erica Renaud, Vitalis Organic Seeds Breeder & Seed Producer Company

Randy Cummings, Johnny’s Selected Seeds Distributor

Brett Baker, Organic Certification Body Organic Certifier Perspective

Landreths’ Seeds •Established in 1784•5th oldest corporation in the United States

Founded in Holland in 1994

Organic vegetable breeding

Organic seed production

Enza Zaden partnership in 1998

Entered US market in 2008

Full subsidiary in 2012

Over 30 different crops

Sales in 35 countries

Certified Organic: USA and global

Family owned & independent

• Product Development• Sales & Marketing• Customer Service• Operations & Logistics• Quality Control• Seed Production 11 organic seed production countries

• Breeding 1 dedicated organic breeding station 3 breeding stations in North America 16 global breeding stations

Components of Seed Company:

Crops:

Tomato Zucchini CauliflowerPepper Winter Squash KohlrabiCucumber Endive FennelLettuce Rootstock ArugulaSpinach Mache HerbsEndive Radish MelonEggplant Leek Onion

USA | EU | MEXICO: Organic Regulations

• Organic StandardsEuropean Union since 1997USA since 2002Canada since 2009Canada and EU harmonization since 2011USA and EU harmonization since 2012Mexico since 2014Mexico and USA harmonization in process

• Implications for Global Tradeeg. 90%+ of Mexican organic product exported to USA

Seed Industry Overview

Why organic seed & breeding?“We differentiate our organic offering through our commitment to a closed-looporganic agriculture system; providing the highest quality, non-GMO, organic seed, free of contaminants and adapted to the needs of diverse organic agriculture systems.”

Benefit to GROWER• Regulatory• Resistance to soil- and seed-borne diseases• Earliness• High weed suppression and tolerance• Higher resistance level• Increased nutrient use through extensive root systems.

Benefit to CONSUMER• Local for local trend.• ‘Specialty’ crops.• Flavor (scavenge the nutrients)• Nutritional content

US Organic Seed Regulatory Clause

USA: §205.204 Seeds and planting stock practice standard The producer must use organically grown seeds, annual seedlings,

and planting stock: Except that:Nonorganically produced, untreated seeds and planting stock may be

used to produce an organic crop when an equivalent organically produced variety is not commercially available, except, that organically produced seed must be used for the production of edible sprouts;

Nonorganically produced seeds and planting stock that have been treated with a substance included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production may be used to produce an organic crop when an equivalent organically produced or untreated variety is not commercially available.

•10

USDA NOP Organic Seed Guidance Document

• Seeds, Annual Seedlings, and Planting Stock (NOP 5029)

– Proposed Guidance Released 6/13/2011– Final Guidance Released Effective 3/4/2013

• Describes practices for certified operations to demonstrate their proactive efforts to procure OG seed

– Annual percentage increase– More than three sources of known organic seed suppliers– Trials demonstrating why standard cultivar is accepted or not– Use of national database listing organic seeds available

•11

Hybrid benefits:GROWER• High yields• Uniformity: plant architecture, maturity, appearance,

flavor profiles• Specific disease resistances

BREEDER• Rapid evaluation• Good parent lines = quick breeding progress• Ease of using marker-assisted selection (MAS)• Unique genetics = distinction in the market

The Science – Traditional Plant Breeding

P2

INBRED CREATION

Wild Line w/ Desirable

Trait

Elite Line 1

Back Cross to Elite Line 1 (multiple backcrosses)

P2

Select a new line to Advance

P2

F1 F2 F3 ….F7

Self Pollinate & Select for several

generations to achieve a new

Fixed Inbred Line

P2

HYBRID CREATION

P2

P2

Elite Line 2

Hybrid Seed - Selections are made over several seasons (multiple years)

- No guarantee of any particular gene combination from the million of

crosses generated

- Limited to exchanges between the same or very closely related species

TOOL BOX:Association Panels

CSSL LibrariesQTL mappingLinkage mapsSNPs & SSRs

Bioinformatics

The Science – “Modern” Breeding

1. Mapping Genes

2. Identification of DNA Markers

3. Marker Assisted Breeding

4. Screening of Cultivars & Wild

Types for Future Breeding

5. (Genetic Modification/GMO’s)

Breeding projects:

Spinach• Red veins• Savoy leaves• Flexible varieties:

baby leaf and bunching

• Nutrient Use Efficiency

• Horizontal downy mildew resistance (Peronosporafarinosa)

Pepper• Bacterial leaf spot

resistance• Aphid resistance• Early maturity• Protected culture

and open field varieties

Breeding projects:

Breeding projects:

Kuri Winter Squash• Storability• OP parent line• High brix, dry matter

content, flavor evaluations

Cauliflower• Self-incompatibility• Genetic male sterility

Organic Mini-Conicals Study• Study comparing

organically versus conventionally grown mini-conicals for nutritional and post-harvest characteristics

• Selection of best performing mini-conical genetics under organic growing conditions

Organic Seed Production

Post Harvest Quality Control & PhytosanitaryStandards

• Earthbound Farms– Grower-shipper based in San

Juan Bautista, CA – Current programs: Arugula,

babyleaf, romaine, spinach– New programs: Eazy Leaf,

diverse Lettuce, herbs – Direct and dealer sales

CUSTOMER TYPES

• Diversified Organic Farms– Small individual acreages but these add up to big numbers. – Southeast input into their assortment is growing.– Best PD information often comes from these growers– Organic seed in demand!!

Distributor model: Customer type dependent

Advancing the ethical development and stewardship of the genetic resources of agricultural seed

Producer survey (2014)

1) General farm demographics2) Usage of organic seed3) Challenges that restrict use4) Needs moving forward

1360+ farmers responded representing 47 states

State of Organic Seed



• Vegetable crops – Improvements but much less vegetable

acreage is planted to organic seed compared to other crops

54.969.3

2009 2014Perc

enta

ge o

f Acr

eage

Average Percent Vegetable Acreage Planted to Organic Seed



79 66 48 51 51 30 2085 80 84 85 78 74 6647 48 60 68 69 51 300

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0.01-3 4-10 11-50 51-80 81-160 161-480 >480Organic acreage

Organic seed use by crop type and acreage

Vegetables

Field Crops

Forage Crops


• Reasons for not sourcing organic seed

– Specific variety unavailable (70%)– Insufficient quantity of seed (42%)– Lack of desirable traits (39%)– Save their own seed (38%)– Price (37%)


Vitalis Organic SeedsEnza Zaden North America, Inc.Erica Renaud(831) [email protected]

why organic seed? - new mexico taste the...

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