Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Micaela Colley, OSA's Research and Education Director completed her PhD in 2023 at Wageningen University in the Netherlands with coadvising from Drs. Jim Myers and Julie Dawson. Her thesis included research on assessment of the NOVIC on-farm trial network model, Suitability of a network model to facilitate testing and increase adoption of organic seed: reflections from 12 years of the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC). At UW-Madison, the project has provided research support for a Masters Student in Horticulture, Sarah De Graff, who is doing her research project on vegetable variety trials for northern Wisconsin. Sarah DeGraff analyzed data from the vegetable variety trials in Northern Wisconsin and successfully defended her MS thesis. A publication is under development. This project has also provided support for a Plant Breeding PhD student, Ambar Carvallo, who is funded on a UW Madison grant that provides for her stipend and tuition but not research costs. Her research is focused on tomato breeding for organic systems and she has been primarily responsible for the NOVIC breeding trials. The project has provided professional development opportunities for several undergraduate students and hourly employees who were recent graduates who were able to participate in trials and learn more about tomato breeding and vegetable variety trials through this project. Nine graduate students and numerous undergraduates at OSU have participated in NOVIC trials over the years. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?OSA hosted field days in Washington and California that highlighted NOVIC work. The California field day had 40 participants including farmers, graduate students, and extension personnel. The Washington field day had 40 participants including farmers, chefs, extension personnel and the general public. In Wisconsin, we have distributed results through online and in-person means, with farmers and chefs largely preferring a hands-on field day or tasting approach and discussions as a way of learning about research results through interacting with peers. The variety trial results are published on our website, seedtokitchen.horticulture.wisc.edu/trial-results. We conducted a taste test with chefs on the advanced tomato breeding lines developed in this project, hosted by Pasture and Plenty in Madison, Wisconsin. We participated in a field day in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on organic vegetable variety trials, supported by this project in addition to other OREI projects and a grant from Michigan State to the host researcher. This was organized by James DeDecker, MSU Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center. Ishpeming, Marquette and Chatham, MI. We participated in a field day at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station (Twilight Garden Tour, August 24) which featured trials from other project but also included discussions of prior year's results from NOVIC and demonstration plots of breeding lines. We conducted roundtable discussions with farmers including project results and feedback on priorities at the Organic Vegetable Production conference in Feb, 2023. We have also shared findings with scientific and stakeholder audiences at conferences: Dawson, J.C., 2023. Connecting local food systems to regional plant breeding through flavor. Extension Horticulture Team update. University of Wisconsin-Madison. August 30th, online; Enjalbert, J.N. and Dawson, J.C. 2023. Garden Talk with Larry Meiller Wisconsin Public Radio. Madison, WI. March 3; Dawson, J.C. Seed to Kitchen Vegetable Variety Trials. 2023. Allen Centennial Garden. Winter seminar series: Seeds of Change Madison, WI. Jan 21; and Dawson, J.C. and Enjalbert, N. 2022. Seed to Kitchen and Seedlinked. The No-Till Market Garden Podcast. December 12. At OSU, we participated in the Organic Seed Alliance Field Day, Chimacum, WA, 9/26/2022. (35), a Tomato field day, OSU Vegetable Research Farm, Corvallis, OR 9/15/2022. (5) and a Tomato and Melon Organic Growers field day, OSU Vegetable Research Farm, Corvallis, OR 9/7/2022. (25). We held a final meeting with Oregon participants at the Mahonion in Portland, OR on Jan. 23, 2023. We showcased green bean and tomato releases and experimental lines at "Fests" held at the Well-Spent Market in Portland on Aug. 5 and Sept. 11, 2023, respectively. These provided a venue for the general public to learn about NOVIC, its goals and outcomes. In Colorado, we shared 2021-2022 NOVIC results in a poster at the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (CFVGA) annual conference in Denver, CO in February of 2023. USDA-PGRU performed outreach that focused on small-scale organic farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, and consumers at the Common Ground Country Fair. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Variety Trials A final year under a no cost extension was utilized to finish trials conducted during the summer of 2022 that extended beyond the grant end date of September 1, 2022. In these trials, NY, WI, and OR coordinated Cucurbita maxima winter squash trials with a focus on kabocha, buttercup and other high quality cultivars. Regional groups conducted their other NOVIC vegetable trials independently. In Oregon, an aji pepper trial (Capsicum baccatum - 10 cultivars) was wrapped up. Many of these aji cultivars were also grown the previous year to obtain multiple growing seasons of performance data. Although these types of peppers are long season, several cultivars can be produced in Oregon's cool maritime climate. OSA grew demonstration trials of NOVIC-bred varieties, including pink chard, red cabbage, and sweet corn and others at the WA OSA research station. Trials of hybrids of NOVIC sweet corn varieties were grown alongside the parental lines in OSA CA trials. In Colorado, A 2022 Colorado tomato trial (8 cultivars) was completed. We also completed a Colorado pepper trial (4 bell pepper cultivars and 7 roasting cultivars for 11 total) harvest in the same time period. We collected data on yield, average fruit size, date of first flower and date of first fruit. Breeding programs Breeding activities continued in the various regions. In Wisconsin, tomato composite cross breeding lines developed for high tunnel production in organic systems in the upper Midwest were evaluated in an organic high tunnel system at the West Madison agricultural research station for productivity, disease resistance and quality traits, including flavor. We also have advanced lines which are being evaluated for potential release and these were tested at both the West Madison and Spooner stations. These lines were evaluated for productivity, disease resistance, earliness and flavor. A publication is in the process of being submitted. Over the course of the NOVIC project, Cornell has been especially productive with 20 cultivars available as organic seed. These include six commercialflatsnap pea cultivars (Cardinal , Ringo, Beauregarde, Epistro, Zap, Greenwave); four variegated snacking peppers commercial cultivars (Patchwork, Tapestry, Collage, Circus); four early pepper breeding lines (Pasilla, Guajillo, sweet Italian, and pimento), two early aji pepper breeding lines; eight commercial winter squash cultivars (Honeynut, Gouda, Robin's Koginut, 661, 898/Honeypatch, Brulee, Lodi,Centercut) hybrid parents for two commercialwinter squash cultivars (Autumn Frost, Butterbaby); nine downy mildew resistant cucumber breeding lines, and one renewable high tunnel gynoecious, parthenocarpic cucumber population. OSA in Washington advanced breeding lines of sweet corn, dry corn and cabbage with the goal of producing stock seed or quantities of breeding lines for future shared use and release. Additional on-farm trials of Olympic Sweet (sweet corn), Oaxcan Green early, and Blue-Green cross (field corn) populations were grown in WA. Seed of Olympic Sweet was produced in WA with the goal of distributing as stock seed to partnering seed companies. In Oregon, two pepper releases were completed. Both are low pungency habanero types with excellent flavor. Notta Hotta is a wax type while Mild Thing has green/red fruit. Nearing release are two tromboncino summer squash - one with pale green skin and the other being green/yellow bicolor. NOVIC support of the tomato breeding effort has led to cooperation with the Organically Grown Company to trial and market cherry type Indigo tomatoes in mixed color cherry tomato clamshell packs. Prior releases from OSU facilitated by NOVIC include Solstice and Myers Best broccoli, Sweet Gem snap pea and Midnight Roma Indigo San Marzano type tomato.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Park, H.E., L. Nebert, R. King, P. Busby and J. Myers. 2023. Influence of organic plant breeding on the rhizosphere microbiome of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Frontiers in Plant Science. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1251919.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Colley, M.R., Tracy, W.F., Lammerts van Bueren, E.T., Diffley, M. and Almekinders, C.J., 2022. How the Seed of Participatory Plant Breeding Found Its Way in the World through Adaptive Management. Sustainability, 14(4), p.2132.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: J.R. Myers. Issues in breeding snap beans for organic production. BRESOV project meeting Agrigento, Sicily, 3-29-3-30-2023.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Davey, J., A. Machado, T. Hickey, and M. Uchanski. 2023. CSU Specialty Crops Program 2021-2022 Research Highlights poster. Presented at the CFVGA annual conference in Denver, CO February 21-22, 2023. Yes, acknowledgement of NIFA support was included in the printed poster presentation.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Mazourek M. Culinary Driven Plant Breeding. National Association of Plant Breeders Conference. July 17, 2023.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Mazourek M and Keigler J. Rainbows of Flat Snap Peas. Bean Improvement Cooperative/North American Pulse Improvement Association Conference. Nov 6, 2023. Greenville, SC.

Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Fresh market vegetable growers and seed companies throughout the U.S. Changes/Problems:The restraints imposed by the Covid pandemic has been an impediment to networking and exchange of ideas. We seem to be out of that now, but progress was definitely slowed in the past two years. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Cornell: Two undergraduate students assisted with the trials and breeding. A local grower started working with us part time and is learning how to blend genetics and trialing with farmer know-how. Greg helped manage the project while in employee degree program. Professional staff at OSA and 3 interns at the OSA research farm gained skills in plant breeding projects, participatory on-farm trials, and coordination of outreach activities such as field days. Professional staff included a new research farm manager with experience in seed production that gained research and plant breeding related training. OSA's co-PI, Colley, completed a PhD in organic plant breeding through Wageningen University and Research, Netherlands. Colley's thesis included several chapters directly related to NOVIC research including a review of the literature on participatory plant breeding, a reflection/ evaluation of 12 years of experience in the NOVIC participatory trial network, and analysis of the application of adaptive management in navigating release of 'Who gets kissed?' sweet corn, a NOVIC variety release. The first and third chapter listed are cited in the publication section of this report. UW Dawson: This project has provided support for a Plant Breeding PhD student, Ambar Carvallo, who is funded on a UW Madison grant that provides for her stipend and tuition but not research costs. Her research is focused on tomato breeding for organic systems and she has been primarily responsible for the NOVIC breeding trials. The project has also provided research support for a Masters Student in Horticulture who is doing her research project on vegetable variety trials for northern Wisconsin. The project has also provided professional development opportunities for several undergraduate students and hourly employees who were recent graduates who were able to participate in trials and learn more about tomato breeding and vegetable variety trials through this project. UW Tracy: A number of graduate students have been funded on this grant. Virginia Moore received her Ph.D. and is beginning an assistant professor position at Cornell. Jared Zystro received his Ph.D. and is now working for the Organic Seed Alliance; Current student is Auden Parkinson who received an M.S. degree in and Alexa Wilson who is working toward her Ph.D. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Cornell held vegetable breeding institute field days for seed companies and growers which showcased their breeding materials and provided opportunities for students to network. Seed of breeding lines and trial material was shared with growers with accompanying discussion around the traits and goals. At OSA, in fall 2022, farmers, researchers and other stakeholders gathered for in-person field days after 2 years of on-line outreach due to Covid. Two events presented NOVIC results, one targeting farmers and researchers and a second field tour targeting the general public. OSA Washington Researcher Field Day, Sep 26, 2022 (20 participants) and OSA Washington Community Field Day, Sep 26, 2022 (28 participants). The 11th Organic Seed Growers' Conference, February 4-11, 2022, featured poster and oral presentations on NOVIC projects and workshops that advanced NOVIC goals of expanding access to organic seed. The conference was hosted through the on-line social networking platform (www.organicseedcommons.org) and also hosted and recorded through eOrganic. Archives of session are available through both platforms leveraging the combined outreach (https://eorganic.org/node/35373). Poster presentations presented by graduate students on NOVIC research included: Breeding vegetable Maize for Organic Production: Quality, Selection and Methodology (Lexi Wilson, University of Wisconsin-Madison), Development of Tomato Varieties Adapted for Organic Systems in the Upper Midwest, with Improved Flavor and Disease Resistance (Ambar Carvallo, University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Indigo Tomato Trials on the Evergreen State College Organic Farm (Adam Smith). The conference also advanced NOVIC goals by hosted a dry corn virtual networking session, workshops on seed saving and seed production, and regional seed networking sessions. In Wisconsin, after a two year break due to COVID, we hosted the Farm to Flavor event again in Madison on August 21st, with about 300 people in attendance. Chefs featured different breeding lines of vegetables and grains, including advanced tomato lines from our NOVIC project. Dawson also hosted a field day at the West Madison Research Station on August 24th and had about 20 people in attendance. The audience was primarily students interested in organic plant breeding, as we have had trouble getting farmer attendance at summer field days due to persistent labor shortages on farms. Tracy presented results at the MOSES organic conference in La Crosse WI, at the international sweetcorn development association meeting in Chicago IL and at the maze genetics meeting in Saint Louis. USDA-PGRU performed outreach that focused on small-scale organic farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, and consumers in four states - NY, ME, OH, and MI. For all events, NOVIC brochures and posters, seed saving literature, sources/vendors of seed cleaning and controlled-pollination equipment and supplies, and eOrganic Web Resources were provided or publicized. Complimentary samples of seed of sweet corn, broccoli, squash, pepper, and tomato were handed out to emphasize the breeding goals of NOVIC. We were exhibitors at the Common Ground Country Fair, September 23-25, 2022 in Unity, ME. There were 67,848 attendees, which was a record year. PGRU distributed over 3,500 seed packets , and PGRU collected 800 signatures from people visiting our NOVIC III booth. We demonstrated seed cleaning using a belt thresher, a wet seed processor, an air column and various small manual techniques. We also provided free seed cleaning services and training to attendees upon request. Common Ground attendees represented 23 states and 4 countries. PGRU prepared short workshops, seed saving demonstrations, and seed longevity tutorials. PI Stansell presented at Cornell University Plant Breeding 4060 course September 15, 2022. Common Ground Country Fair At OSU, Myers presented at the Organic Seed Alliance Field Day, Chimacum, WA, 9/26/2022, participated in a webinar (Crossing Beans and Tomatoes) for GoFarm, Hawaii, 3/26/2022. (30) What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are in the final year of the NOVIC project and in a no cost extension, which allowed us to finish field trials at the end of the 2022 season and to wrap up reports and manuscripts in 2023. Major objectives include delivering a plant breeding workshop, publishing comprehensive trial reports, continuing variety release and commercialization efforts, and evaluating project outcomes and future opportunities to continue expanding NOVIC-related objectives. In 2023 the project team will host workshops training farmers in organic, on-farm plant breeding. The training is planned for delivery through eOrganic and the Organic Seed Commons as a series of webinars. The training will include simultaneous presentations and a class cohort engaged in discussions as well as recordings of the webinars to release post-event as an asynchronous training. In Wisconsin, we will continue to evaluate the composite crosses in field trials for one more season for Ambar's PhD thesis. Colorado will distribute reports at the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (CFVGA) annual meeting in Denver, CO in February of 2023. USDA-ARS-PGRU will continue the outreach component of this project to a broad community of stakeholders, as well as provide resources such as plant material and seed cleaning equipment for a minimum of four outreach events per year. Information bulletins with protocols for field operations, seed production, seed processing techniques, and additional sources of information such as eXtension will continue to be updated and provided. A manuscript from Colley's Ph.D. dissertation of the evaluation of the trial network will be submitted in early 2023 titled, Suitability of a network model to facilitate testing and increase adoption of organic seed: reflections from 12 years of the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Variety Trials NY, WI, and OR conducted nation-wide Cucurbita maxima winter squash trials to identify cultivars adapted to regional organic production with long storage capacity. The main focus was on kabocha, buttercup and other high quality cultivars. This trial was a repeat in some regions from prior years. Other than the winter squash trial, regions conducted their other vegetable trials independently. In most regions, SeedLinked served as the platform for data collection of on-farm trials. In NY state, Cornell University conducted trials in our target crops that aligned with regional grower priorities: sprouting broccoli for hot summer production, tasty & colorful carrots, downy mildew resistant cucumbers, seed disease resistant beans for seed production at Cornell and with cooperating farmers. In WA, OSA, coordinated on-farm and on-station trials of crops prioritized by participating farmers including basil (bolt resistance), Pac Choi (bolt resistance, pest resistance), Melons (short season maturity, flavor), novel color carrots (rainbow colors with similar days to maturity, size, and top quality), and Yellow Zucchini (open-pollinated types with good yield and shape). Participation of a professional chef (La Coccina restaurant) enabled culinary evaluation of 24 Dry-corn varieties from kernels retained from the harvest of trials hosted in 2021. Chef Lizette recorded cooking time and tortilla making quality (plasticity) of all 24 entries and a participatory taste test with 15 participants recorded eating qualities (results to be included in 2023 reports). Ten farmers participated in WA trials in 2022 and attended a field day to view crops at the OSA research farm in September. Trial results were presented at field day and will be released as formal reports in early 2023. Wisconsin's winter squash variety trials were conducted at the Spooner Agricultural Research station where productivity, disease tolerance and fruit quality were evaluated. Research program staff conducted taste testing of all varieties from the Spooner station in November, the buttercup varieties were tasted again in December as they do not store as long, and all other varieties will be tasted again in January.Brix and dry matter are being measured on all samples evaluated for flavor. Storage trials are underway, with squash evaluated monthly for marketability. In Oregon, in addition to a winter squash trial with 13 cultivars of kabocha types, aji peppers (Capsicum baccatum - 10 cultivars) were grown. Many of these aji cultivars were also grown the previous year to obtain multiple growing seasons of performance data. This season, the crops faced challenges from a long-wet spring which pushed planting and harvest dates later. A few cultivars were not able to ripen before the first frost, but several cultivars can be produced in Oregon's cool maritime climate. In Colorado, CSU conducted our tomato sensory evaluation with 9 cultivars, and 20 evaluators in for each cultivar (Larimer County Master Gardeners) in September 2021 for a trial conducted in the previous reporting year. In the 2022 growing season, CO conducted field evaluation of 9 indeterminant tomato cultivars, 10 roasting peppers, and 5 bell pepper cultivars (yield, average fruit size, first flower, and first fruit data). Breeding programs Cornell tested new downy mildew resistant cucumber hybrids, that exhibited highly competitive yields and unsurpassed disease resistance, multiplied seed and released them to seed companies for commercial evaluation. We multiplied and performed the final selection on early, short season peppers and shared for pre-release evaluations with seed companies and growers. Seven populations of high tunnel cucumbers were selected for non-bitterness following a cross to a non-bitter parent to correct for induced bitterness that emerged in 2021 populations. Selections were intermated for further selection in 2023. At OSA, seed companies and farmers continued evaluating breeding lines from NOVIC efforts and providing feedback on readiness for commercialization. Three sweet corn varieties developed by OSA and Tracy at UW-Madison gained commercial interest, 'Honey Badger', 'Quick kiss', and 'Olympic Sweet'. Two seed companies expressed intent to commercialize two of the varieties in 2023-2024 and the project team will develop contracts in 2023 for the formal release terms. Breeding of new dry-corn varieties expanded in the second year of selection (creating F1's and F2's) with the goal of developing types for tortilla production that mature in Northern region. This breeding work initiated based on farmers' feedback and interest in NOVIC trials of dry corn varieties (2019-2022). Dry corn populations included an early maturing white dent ('Nostine') crossed with a blue flint ('Jerry Peterson Blue') and a green ('Oaxacan Green') and a deep red that presented in an F2 of the blue x green cross. The red-purple cabbage developed by OSA is now in the F6 generation and promising as an OP variety, but plans for commercialization are not yet determined. Commercial sale of 'Who get's kissed?' sweet corn from NOVIC 1 is still in commercial markets after more than 10 years since releases. NOVIC Co-PI's, published a peer reviewed article analyzing the releases process and reflections on the subsequent implications for expanded access and participatory plant breeding (see publication section of this report). In Wisconsin, The tomato composite cross breeding lines from Dawson's program developed for high tunnel production in organic systems in the upper midwest were evaluated in an organic high tunnel system at the West Madison agricultural research station for productivity, disease resistance and quality traits, including flavor. We also have advanced lines which are being evaluated for potential release and these were tested at both the West Madison and Spooner stations. Advanced Lines were evaluated for productivity, disease resistance, earliness and flavor.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Yactayo-Chang, J.P., Boehlein, S., Beiriger, R.L., Resende M.F.R., Jr., Bruton, R.G., Alborn, H.T., Romero, M., Tracy, W.F, & Block. A.K. (2022). The Impact of Post-Harvest Storage on Sweet Corn Aroma. Phytochemistry Letters 52:3339.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Colley MR, Tracy WF, Lammerts van Bueren, ET, Diffley M and Almekinders CJ (2022) How the Seed of Participatory Plant Breeding Found Its Way in the World through Adaptive Management. Sustainability 14(4), 2132. (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/4/2132 )
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Baseggio, M., Murray, M., Wu, D., Ziegler, K.N., Chamness, J., Buckler, E.S., Hamilton. J.P., Buell, C.R., Vatamaniuk, O.K., Buckler, E.S., Smith, M.E., Baxter, I., Tracy, W.F., & Gore, M.A. (2021). A genome-wide association study reveals an independent genetic basis of zinc and cadmium concentrations in fresh sweet corn kernels. G3-2021-402240
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Hislop, L., Stephanie, E., Flannery, P.J., Baseggio, M., Gore, M.A, & Tracy, W.F. (2021). Sugarcane Mosaic Virus Resistance in the Wisconsin Sweet Corn Diversity Panel. Journal of American Society for Horticultural Science. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 146(6):435444
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: McCluskey, C. & Tracy, W.F. (2021). Engaging Farmer Stakeholders: Maize Producers Perceptions and Strategies for Managing On-Farm Genetic Diversity in the Upper Midwest. Sustainability, 13: 8843, https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8843/htm
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Revilla, P., Anibas, C.M. & Tracy, W.F. (2021). Sweet Corn research around the world 2015 2020. Agronomy 11(34). https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11030534
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Solemslie, R., du Toit, L.J., Tracy, W.F., & Stearns, T. (2021). Evaluation of steam treatments for Fusarium spp. and other fungi on sweet corn seed. Plant Disease Management Reports 15(CF017).
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Grumet, Rebecca, James D. McCreight, Cecilia McGregor, Yiqun Weng, Michael Mazourek, Kathleen Reitsma, Joanne Labate, Angela Davis, and Zhangjun Fei. "Genetic resources and vulnerabilities of major cucurbit crops." Genes 12.8 (2021): 1222.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Makenzie E Mabry, Sarah D Turner-Hissong, Evan Y Gallagher, Alex C McAlvay, Hong An, Patrick P Edger, Jonathan D Moore, David A C Pink, Graham R Teakle, Chris J Stevens, Guy Barker, Joanne Labate, Dorian Q Fuller, Robin G Allaby, Timothy Beissinger, Jared E Decker, Michael A Gore, J Chris Pires "The evolutionary history of wild, domesticated, and feral Brassica oleracea (Brassicaceae)." Molecular biology and evolution 38.10 (2021): 4419-4434.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Labate, Joanne A., Jeffrey C. Glaubitz, and Michael J. Havey. "Genotyping by sequencing for SNP marker development in onion." Genome 63.12 (2020): 607-613.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Li, Jian, et al. "Novel Sources of Resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici Race 3 Among Solanum pennellii Accessions." Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 147.1 (2022): 35-44.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Labate, Joanne A. "DNA Variation in a Diversity Panel of Tomato Genetic Resources." Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 146.5 (2021): 339-345.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Colin K. Khoury, Daniel Carver, Heather R. Kates, Harold A. Achicanoy, Maarten van Zonneveld, Evert Thomas, Claire Heinitz, Robert Jarret, Joanne A. Labate, Kathy Reitsma, Gary P. Nabhan, Stephanie L. Greene "Distributions, conservation status, and abiotic stress tolerance potential of wild cucurbits (Cucurbita L.)." Plants, People, Planet 2.3 (2020): 269-283.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Park, H.E., R.M. King, and J.R. Myers. 2022. A case for breeding organic snap beans in an organic selection environment. Annu. Rept. Bean Improv. Coop. 65:31-32.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Parkinson, A.E. 2022. Investigation of the Harvest Window of sh2-i/sh2-r su1/su1 Sweet Corn (Zea mays.) Plant Breeding & Plant Genetics MS Thesis. University of Wisconsin Madison
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Hayley Park, 2022. Evaluation and breeding for improved performance of Phaseolus vulgaris in organic systems M.S. OSU June 2022.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Hislop, L.M. 2022. Genetic associations of endosperm carbohydrate composition and sugarcane mosaic virus resistance in sweet corn (Zea mays.) Plant Breeding & Plant Genetics Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin Madison
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Micaela Colley, 2022. Advancing organic agriculture utilizing participatory plant breeding, action learning, and a systems approach.; Ph.D. Wageningen University; Netherlands, November, 2022
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Park, H., M. Mazourek, R. McGee, J.R. Myers. 2022. Symposium: Perspectives on Organic Vegetable Legumes: Current Status and Breeding for the Future - Organic Seed Growers Conference Organic Seed Conference, 6 Feb. 2022. (Virtual).
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Wilson, L. (2022) Breeding vegetable Maize for Organic Production: Quality, Selection and Methodology. 11th Biennial Organic Seed Growers Conference, February 4-11, 2022. https://seedalliance.org/conference-agenda-session-details/#posters
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Carvallo, A. (2022) Development of Tomato Varieties Adapted for Organic Systems in the Upper Midwest, with Improved Flavor and Disease Resistance. 11th Biennial Organic Seed Growers Conference, February 4-11, 2022. https://seedalliance.org/conference-agenda-session-details/#posters
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Smith, A. Indigo Tomato Trials on the Evergreen State College Organic Farm. 11th Biennial Organic Seed Growers Conference, February 4-11, 2022. https://seedalliance.org/conference-agenda-session-details/#posters

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audience consists of organic fresh market vegetable growers and seed companies developing and selling certified organic vegetable seed. Changes/Problems:This project has relied heavily on face to face communications and due to restrictions caused by COVID 19, such activities were curtailed and project momentum slowed. Instead of in-person travel to the NOVIC annual Co-PI meeting, it was held remotely via Zoom due to the pandemic. We had follow-up communications via email and our NOVIC listserve. Staff availability in 2021 was a major limitation. People were unavailable to work for a variety of personal reasons for weeks at a time. We didn't have backup for on farm trials and those suffered as a result. Our produce taste tests were restricted to our core project teams due to the pandemic, so our data is based on relatively few samples. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Four interns trained at the OSA research farm in on-farm variety trial and breeding projects. Two of the interns went on to start a seed production business. The project provided PhD training for the OSA project co-PI with three publications in progress on NOVIC corn breeding, participatory trials and participatory breeding models. In Wisconsin, this project has provided support for a Plant Breeding PhD student, Ambar Carvallo, who is funded on a UW Madison grant that provides for her stipend and tuition but not research costs. Her research is focused on tomato breeding for organic systems and she has been primarily responsible for the NOVIC breeding trials. The project has also provided professional development opportunities for a visiting research intern from Uruguay, Marcella Gonzalez, who is finishing a masters degree focused on breeding tomatoes for disease resistance at her home institution and fulfilled her required international internship with our program. We also had several undergraduate students and hourly employees who were recent graduates who were able to participate in trials and learn more about tomato breeding through this project. The OSU vegetable breeding program had two undergraduate students working on senior thesis projects, 1 undergraduate intern and 1 MS student working on NOVIC related activities. The graduate student, Casey Wilson, managed the mother trial and interfaced with participating farmers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In Oregon, we had an in-person NOVIC Field Day at the Lewis Brown Farm in August, 2021 after having only virtual events in the prior year. In Washington, outreach pivoted to virtual events in 2020-2021 with annual field days broadcast online and over 200 participants joined. On farm trials continued with virtual coordination and five farms collaborating in on-farm trials. In Wisconsin, the results are still preliminary and field days were cancelled due to COVID but we are planning to publish the winter squash trials jointly with the rest of the trial sites. In Colorado, we hosted a "virtual field day" of recorded videos in 2020 and posted them to our website (https://agsci.colostate.edu/specialtycrops/). We have had 90-150 views of these videos, which is slightly higher than in-person attendance we typically host in a non-pandemic year. In addition, we shared 2020 NOVIC results at the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (CFVGA) annual meeting in February of 2021, which reaches produce growers around the state. CoPIs from the USDA-PGRU attended the MOFGA Common Ground Country Fair in Maine in September where NOVIC trial information was disseminated. Joanne Labate retired on July 31 and was replaced by Zachary Stansell on the project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the winter of 2022 we will release a report of variety trial results through the OSA website and eOrganic variety trial database. Seed companies will be offered seed samples of cabbage and sweet corn to evaluate for commercial release. In the final year of NOVIC a farmer-breeding workshop will train farmers in participatory breeding skills. The workshop will either be hosted online through the Organic Seed Commons or in person depending on COVIC restrictions. We will conduct the second year of a sweet potato trial using slips from tubers stored from the 2021 harvest. Wisconsin will continue to evaluate the advanced tomato lines for release and the early generation composite crosses in field trials for Ambar's PhD thesis. At CSU, we plan to repeat our field experiments in the next reporting period, with expanded in-person tasting evaluations in coordination with our Larimer County Master Gardeners. We will host an in-person (but still socially distant) field day "open house" at ARDEC South in the next reporting period. Our group will work with the broader NOVIC team to participate in and support the planned breeding intensive workshop. A final year of trials will be3 conducted in Oregon and New York. The Oregon trial will continue winter squash evaluations and will conduct a second year of the Aji pepper trial.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Variety trials: A winter squash trial of 15 Kabocha types was grown in all 5 regions, with a shared set of 9 cultivars, with the others being chosen regionally. Otherwise, trials were selected in consultation with farmers for regional evaluations. For OSA in Washington, 10 daughter farms participated. Variety trials followed on-station and on-farm collaborative model with on-farm trials including, Viva Farm - dry corn; Broken Ground Farm - squash, dry corn, dry beans; Deep Harvest Farm - dry corn, summer cauliflower; Eldur Heron Farm - dry corn, dry beans; Sunfield Farm - dry beans, summer cauliflower. Replicated trials conducted at the OSA research farm in WA included the following crops and trial focus: Maxima winter squash - NOVIC team crop with local farmer input and varieties, Summer cauliflower - focused on OP varieties, Dry Corn - colored varieties with early maturity and high quality for tortillas, Dry Beans - early maturing and high yielding and Sweet Potato - observational trial of 14 varieties - currently have tubers in storage for 2022 slip production. In Wisconsin, winter squash variety trials were grown at the West Madison and Spooner Agricultural Research stations. Coordinated efforts included evaluation of productivity, disease tolerance and fruit quality. Research program staff conducted taste testing of all varieties from West Madison, and from the Spooner station. Brix and dry matter is being measured on all samples evaluated for flavor. Storage trials are underway for both locations, with squash evaluated monthly for marketability. Colorado State University successfully completed a third season of NOVIC 3 cultivar trials located at CSU's ARDEC South location in Fort Collins, CO. In New York, a Cucubita maxima storage trial was continued this year, with seed sent to Hudson Valley Farm Hub, Full Moon Farm, and Stick and Stone Farm. Nine varieties were trialed, with four from previous years, three pre-released varieties, and two new varieties. In addition, under the guidance of Thomas Bjorkman, nine broccoli varieties were evaluated for heat stress tolerance by transplanting seedlings so that the plants were likely to receive the most heat stress at the critical point of head development. Seed was sent to Muddy Finger Farms and Hudson Valley Farm Hub and varieties included commercial standards, Eastern Broccoli Project (originally developed under NOVIC I) genetics and open pollinated populations. A snap bean disease resistance trial was grown to evaluate the feasibility of snap bean seed production in the Northeast. Nine varieties with different combinations of disease resistances were grown out by Cornell University and Fedco Seeds. The beans were evaluated for pathogens during the growing season and ability to produce mature seeds within the Northeast growing season. A downy mildew resistant cucumber trial in conjunction with Edmund Frost continued trialing for downy mildew resistance (DMR) in cucumbers. 22 lines of cucumbers were trialed: three commercial varieties, three lines from Edmund Frost, two released Cornell varieties, and 14 evaluation lines from Cornell. The cucumbers were evaluated on the basis of disease resistance and yield. Finally, the non-orange carrot variety trial continued this year with five red or purple commercial varieties and three purple lines from OREI funded Carrot Improvement for Organic Agriculture (COIA). The trial measured general plant vigor, yield, and unmarketable roots (e.g. off-types or excessive root forking). At Oregon State University, we had 9 daughter farms participate in variety trials. OSU participated in the C. maxima winter squash trial including field performance storage evaluations and taste testing. Other trials requested by growers included Aji peppers (Capsicum baccatum) and shishito peppers (C. annuum), both of which were produced outdoors on black plastic mulch. A winter performance trial of escarole and radicchio varieties was grown, and we participated in the field corn trial for tortillas spearheaded by OSA. We also provided Indigo tomato breeding lines and checks to Adam Smith, a student under the direction of Martha Rosemeyer Evergreen State College, who conducted a variety trial on the ESC organic farm. Breeding programs: OSA in Washington continued to advance breeding in purple storage cabbage and sweet corn. The cabbage is currently the F5 generation and is out in the field overwinter for head selections and looks great. The population is becoming uniform enough to consider release and will be disseminated to seed companies for trials in 2022. SE Sweet Corn advanced with evaluation of 306 plots of full sib families and bulk lots evaluated. Dry corn breeding initiated with grow outs of F1 crosses from 2020 including crosses between varieties Nothstine, Oaxacan Green, and Jerry Peterson Blue. In Wisconsin, the tomato breeding lines developed for high tunnel production in organic systems in the upper Midwest were evaluated in an organic high tunnel system at the West Madison agricultural research station. We have advanced lines developed through a NC SARE project which are being evaluated for potential release, and additional composite cross populations developed for this project which are in early generations. Lines were evaluated for productivity, disease resistance, earliness and flavor. The sweet corn breeding program at UW continued with two releases in 2021: 'Quick Kiss' and 'Honey Badger'. Previously unreported was 'Sweet Kisses' released 2018, which was a cooperative effort with independent breeder Carol Deppe. Slated for release in 2022 is 'Who Gets Kissed too?'. OSU focused on tromboncino summer squash breeding materials and the collection of data for release of a tan- and bicolor (yellow/green) varieties. At Cornell for the cucumber breeding program, we narrowed the entries in the trial and made hybrids between complimentary lines based on Downy mildew trial data from last season. These hybrids performed very well, with downy mildew resistance equal to the best breeding lines and cultivars and competitive yields and more balanced fruit shapes. Our population segregating for gynoecious types proved to be bitter in 2021 taste tests. So crosses were made to a non-bitter cultivar. F2 seed was collected this summer. Two outstanding bush C. maxima winter squash F4 selections were advanced and are being evaluated for storage and flavor this winter.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Colley, M.C., J.C. Dawson, C. McCluskey, J.R. Myers, W.F. Tracy and E.T. Lammerts van Bueren. 2021. Exploring the emergence of participatory plant breeding in countries of the global North  a review. Journal of Agricultural Science. First View , pp. 1  19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021859621000782
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Myers, J.R. 2021. La s�lection des brassicac�es, en portant une attention particuli�re au broccoli. Formation sur les semences et vari�t�s adapt�es : module mara�chage. Module 1: Crucifers. Quebec, CA 01/26/2021. (Invited, virtual).
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Mason, T.J., Bettenhausen, H.M., Chaparro, J.M. et al. Evaluation of ambient mass spectrometry tools for assessing inherent postharvest pepper quality. Hortic Res 8, 160 (2021). https://academic.oup.com/hr/article/doi/10.1038/s41438-021-00596-x/6446746.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: McCluskey, C. and W.F. Tracy. 2021. Engaging Farmer Stakeholders: Maize Producers Perceptions and Strategies for Managing On-Farm Genetic Diversity in the Upper Midwest. Sustainability https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8843/htm
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Zystro, Jared, Tessa Peters, Kathleen Miller, and William F. Tracy 2021. Classical and genomic prediction of synthetic open pollinated sweet corn performance in organic environments. Crop Science https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20531
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Solemslie, R., du Toit, L.J., Tracy, W.F., and Stearns, T. 2021. Evaluation of steam treatments for Fusarium spp. and other fungi on sweet corn seed, 2021. Plant Disease Management Reports 15:CF017.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Zystro, Jared, Tessa Peters, Kathleen Miller, and William F. Tracy 2021. Inbred and hybrid sweetcorn genotype performance in diverse organic environments. Crop Science 10.1002/csc2.20457
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Myers, J.; Tracy, W.; Colley, M.; Mazourek, M.; Labate, J.; Uchanski, M.; Dawson, J.; Zystro, J.; Mckenzie, L.; McCluskey, C. and Selman, L. 2021. Participatory plant breeding and trialing to increase farmer choice in vegetable varieties through the NOVIC project. Organic World Congress 2021, Science Forum: 6th ISOFAR Conference co-organised with INRA, FiBL, Agroecology Europe, TP Organics and ITAB, Rennes, France, 8 - 10 September, 2021. (Virtual oral presentation.)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Myers, J.R., Bill Tracy, Micaela Colley, Michael Mazourek, Joanne Labate, Mark Uchanski, Julie Dawson, Jared Zystro, Laurie McKenzie, Cathleen McCluskey and Lane Selman. 2021. NOVIC (Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative) as a model for organic plant breeding and trialling to increase farmer choice for certified organic seed. Organic Horticulture Symposium 2020, III International Organic Fruit Symposium & International Organic Vegetable Symposium, ISHS. 14-16 Dec. 2021. (Invited, oral virtual)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Aksoy U., L. Bargione, R. Betancour, M. Colley, M. Grieshop, A. Hammermeister, S. Ramasamy, G.Berg, V. Chable, O. Campolo, L.A. Hoagland, M. Messmer, & J. Myers. 2021. Roundtable on Future Perspectives for Organic Horticulture. Organic Horticulture Symposium 2020, III International Organic Fruit Symposium & International Organic Vegetable Symposium, ISHS. 14-16 Dec. 2021. (Invited, oral virtual)
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Myers J.R. 2021. Baffling Brassicas: Deconstructing Brassica rapa, B. oleracea and B. juncea. Brassica Week, Culinary Breeding Network Winter Sagra. 01/11/2021. Livestreamed and archived: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhP1l5MsamQ. (Virtual).
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: McCluskey, C.A. 2020. Corn in the upper Midwest: farmers perceptions and strategies for managing on-farm genetic diversity. Master of Science Thesis. University of Wisconsin-Madison

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems:Not surprisingly, Covid 19 and its attendant restrictions was the number one story this year. Our season was normal until the beginning of March when travel restrictions and social distancing measures and public assembly limits were established. In general, we had difficulty employing undergraduate summer field helpers as we had done so in the past. Travel restrictions limited our interactions with growers and severely affected the participatory trialing and breeding aspects of our program. Different institutions were restricted to different degrees and in different manners. University of Wisconsin-Madison had the strictest quarantine measures which shut down most on-campus research. They were able to continue NOVIC trials at the Spooner field station by employing a technician at that location. Cornell also saw limited interactions in their field program and were not able to conduct most variety trials. Breeding activities were modified to use less labor-intensive practices. Mazourek and his team was able to deliver trial seed to participating farms who were able to carry out the on-farm trials. OSU was able to conduct most on station trials by forming our own bubble for the vegetable team. However, because of travel restrictions, we were not able to get seed to most growers for on farm trials. We also did not carry out the tomato late blight breeding program in the field this year. Professional development was affected with meeting and field days cancelled or moved to virtual events. The NOVIC plant breeding workshop for 2020 was postponed until 2021, and may need to be presented virtually if we still cannot do face to face meetings by summer. With deep sadness, we report the passing of Farmer-breeder Jonathan Spero of Lupine Knoll Farm. Jonathan has been one of our best cooperating farmers from the very first NOVIC, where we worked together to develop and release the broccoli variety 'Solstice'. This variety is maintained under an open source agreement and is carried by several organic seed companies. Jonathan also developed and released several sweet corn varieties, using NOVIC trials as a means of evaluating and publicizing the materials. He and his wife Jessy were a fixture at our NOVIC meetings and will be sorely missed. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Farmer participation in the variety trials and on-farm breeding provided opportunities for direct impacts on the targeted organic farming community. Farmers reported adopting new seed varieties based on their experience in the trials and initiating new seed production and breeding projects as a result of their participation. At OSA, Two interns gained experience in conducting and evaluating variety trials and participated in seed educational venues including the Organic Seed Growers Conference. Micaela Colley continues to develop her Ph.D. thesis through NOVIC including a review of participatory plant breeding, evaluation of NOVIC mother-daughter trials and a case study of NOVIC participatory corn breeding. She is working under the direction of Edith Lammerts van Beuren at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. At Cornell, Kristen Loria worked on NOVIC as part of her MS degree in Plant Breeding. As part of Kristen's professional development, she leveraged her work on beans as part of NOVIC into a graduate student SARE project that funded a portion of her time. Greg Inzinna, enrolled in the MS program as well. They both participated in the Organic Seed Grower's Conference and Culinary Breeding Network Variety Showcase. We hired a recent graduate of UW to manage the field trials in Spooner, WI (the university did not allow undergraduate students to participate in research due to COVID). He gained valuable field and management experience in addition to research training. A research specialist conducted the trial at West Madison and assisted with the trial in Spooner. He is entering graduate school with our program next year to obtain a masters degree. In addition, three recent graduates from UW Madison participated in the trial at West Madison, including trial management and data collection. One of these recent graduates is pursuing graduate school and two are pursuing continued work as research specialists or technicians. Several graduate students who have been funded on this grant have continued to build their careers. Virginia Moore who received her Ph.D. from UW is beginning an assistant professor at Cornell. Jared Zystro received his Ph.D. in 2019 and is now working for the Organic Seed Alliance. The CSU Specialty Crops Program welcomed Jane Davey as our new research associate. She has trained in NOVIC protocols and executed a high quality first growing season. At USDA-PGRU in Geneva, NY, one recent college graduate was hired as a temporary (6-month) intern and received training in conservation of crop diversity, vegetable crop seed production, and technology transfer. She has gone on to graduate school to study environmental conservation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our activities proceeded normally until the beginning of March 2020 when Covid 19 restrictions shut down travel and limited public gatherings for most of our institutions. Pre-Covid activities in which several programs participated were the Organic Plant Breeding Intensive held 02/13/20 as a preconference meeting to Organic Seed Conference in Corvallis, OR. At the Organic Seed Growers Conference in Corvallis, OR, (2/12/20-2/15/20) co-PIs and graduate students delivered several presentations (listed below) to growers, seed company representatives and others in the organic food supply chain. Around 450 people from around the US as well as internationally attended. Lane Selman organized the Culinary Breeding Network sponsored Variety Showcase in Portland OR on 02/16/20 where several co-PIs participated in demonstrating their breeding materials in novel preparations by chefs. Below are activities listed by region where NOVIC trials and activities were presented. Oregon: At a Western SARE sponsored dry farm field day at the OSU Vegetable Research Farm on 9/4/19, NOVIC trials were described. The North Willamette Research and Extension Center (NWREC) hosted several NOVIC trials that were viewed by growers attending an organic vegetables field day (9/12/19. We had our annual NOVIC field day at the Lewis Brown Farm, Corvallis, OR on 9/13/19. Justin O'Dea grew NOVIC pepper and squash trials at the WSU Heritage Farm, Vancouver, WA and OSU personnel described NOVIC research at a field day on 9/20/19. We had our regional farmers planning meeting on 01/29/20 at the NWREC, Aurora, OR where we discussed with growers our trial results from 2019 and planned 2020 trials. Some presentations from OSU at the Organic Seed Conference were: Myers, J.R. 02/12/20. Finding a path forward on seed licenses. Organic Seed Conference, Corvallis OR Myers, J.R. 02/15/20. Knowledge exchange on breeding better brassicas. Organic Seed Conference, Corvallis OR. Myers, J.R. The biological considerations of Brassica breeding. Session: Knowledge Exchange on Breeding Better Brassicas Organic Seed Growers Conference, Corvallis OR 2/15/20. (invited) Myers, J.R. License overview & how IP applied in the OSU breeding program. Session: Finding a path forward on seed licensing. Organic Seed Growers Conference, Corvallis OR 2/14/20. (invited) New York: Grosghal and Mazourek participated in a workshop Fundamentals of On-Farm Plant Breeding organized by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Conference. 11/3/2019. Mazourek also participated in the Vegetable Breeding Institute Virtual Field Days where he described breeding progress in squash, cucumber, pepper, pea and bean. 8/31 - 9/1/2020. Washington: In 2019, OSA organized several field days including the Jefferson County Farm Tour Chimacum, WA (9/22/2020; 50), Farm Tour and NOVIC presentation at Nash's Organic Produce Sequim, WA (9/28/2019; 15), Organic Research Farm Field Day Pescadero, CA (9/29/2019; 16) and 5th Annual OSA Fall Field Day Chimacum, WA (9/30/2019; 120). OSA participated in the 6th California Seed Summit Templeton, CA (2/28/19-3/1/19; 22) and a tortilla tasting of NOVIC corn varieties at the WSU Bread Lab, Mount Vernon (12/3/2019; 25). At EcoFarm in Pacific Grove, CA (1/22/20-1/25/20), OSA led a session "What Can We Learn From On-Farm Seed Trials?" (50). In 2020, OSA hosted its first 5-day virtual field day in Sept., highlighting various NOVIC trials and breeding work each day. Trial results and reports from 2019 trials were shared with all participating growers and will be shared publicly by Jan. 2021 along with results and summaries from 2020 trials. They also conducted a NOVIC corn tasting at the Port Townsend High School (11/21/2020; 30) Colorado: CSU coordinated a commercially available grafted tomato trial with a local grower (feedback still pending). We also recorded our field day so a much broader audience can participate. Video links can be found at: https://specialtycrops.agsci.colostate.edu/. Mason presented a guest lecture on NOVIC to HORT 451 (Veg. Crop Management) for 43 undergraduate students during fall 2020. USDA-PGRU: performed outreach that focused on small-scale organic farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, and consumers in four states - NY, ME, OH, and MI. For all events, NOVIC brochures and posters, seed saving literature, sources/vendors of seed cleaning and controlled-pollination equipment and supplies, and eOrganic Web Resources were provided or publicized. Complimentary samples of seed of sweet corn, squash, pepper, and tomato were handed out to emphasize the breeding goals of NOVIC. We were exhibitors at the NOFA-NY Winter Conference (Syracuse, NY, January 17-19, 2019, ~800 attendees), the 40th Annual Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association Conference (February 13-15, 2020, Dayton, OH, ~1,100 attendees), the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market Expo and Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo (December 10-12, 2019, Grand Rapids, MI, ~4,000 attendees), and the Common Ground Country Fair, September 20-22, 2019, Unity, ME, ~60,000 attendees and 635 visitors to our booth). At the Common Ground Country Fair we demonstrated seed cleaning using a belt thresher, a wet seed processor, an air column and various small manual techniques. We also provided free seed cleaning services and training to attendees upon request. Additional NOVIC outreach was performed for groups of students, educators, and other visitors that toured PGRU. This included 35 students from Cornell University Plant Breeding 4060 class, Science & Society: Stories of (Agri)Culture class, and Alliance for Science group from International Programs Cornell Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Cornell University Plant Science 3170 Seed Science and Technology biennial field trip for seven undergraduate students. We distributed educational materials to many clients and users; disseminated our knowledge through publications, exhibits, and presentations at stakeholder's and professional meetings; provided users consultations about seed saving through various means of communication; and led educational tours and discussions with primary, secondary, college and graduate students, and researchers. NOVIC Website has received 1,687 views in this reporting year; total since the 1st NOVIC is 18,687 views. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?All programs are finishing data collection on variety trials conducted during the summer, 2020. We will continue variety trials in 2021 with some trials coordinated nationally, but others left to be determined regionally in consultation with farmers. In terms of breeding programs, efforts will continue with WA and WI sweet corn programs sending remnant seed of selected families to a winter nursery in Argentina for intermating. Seed from that nursery will be returned to the U.S. for evaluation in 2020. OSA staff will continue leading the development of OP red cabbage variety in participation with WA farmers. In NY, we will focus on winter squash and cucumber breeding. WI tomato breeding and selection for high tunnel production will continue and the tomato breeding program in OR will focus on screening for late blight resistance using a combination of markers and field evaluation. In terms of outreach, we hope to get back to face to face interactions with stakeholders. Each region will work with farmers to identify crops and varieties for evaluation in 2021 and will coordinate on farm daughter trials. Planning meeting with farmers in each region will be held in early 2021 to coordinate farmer-directed on-farm and research station trials. A national project planning meeting will be set for February 2020 to coordinate research among institutions. The location for the 2021 on-farm breeding workshop will be identified at that meeting. Each region will conduct field days and other outreach events during the growing season. USDA-ARS-PGRU will continue the outreach component of this project to a broad community of stakeholders, as well as provide resources such as plant material and seed cleaning equipment for a minimum of four outreach events per year. Information bulletins with protocols for field operations, seed production, seed processing techniques, and additional sources of information such as eXtension will continue to be updated and provided. In February 2021 we will also participate in the Culinary Breeding Network virtual showcase by providing two webinars on seed production and plant breeding. In March 2021 Colley will present on the NOVIC participatory corn breeding projects at the LiveSeed/ Eucarpia conference through virtual participation. She will also submit a paper for publication based on the talk. In 2021 Colley and Myers will re-circulate a survey of farmers who have participated in the NOVIC daughter site trials and publish a paper on the outcomes and lessons learned through 9 years of on-farm trial participation. The annual workshop on "On-farm plant breeding" was postponed in 2020 due to covid-19. The project team plans to deliver a workshop virtually in 2021 if an in-person event is still not possible. In the next year a guide to cabbage seed production and breeding will also be developed and released. In Wisconsin, we will repeat the winter squash variety trials in the coming field season. We will also attempt to conduct the variety trials for the other species if COVID restrictions are lifted for the 2021 field season. We are planning to restart the tomato breeding component of the objectives (breeding varieties for high tunnel production). We are able to make crosses in the greenhouse this winter and have constructed a second high tunnel for the project field component. A graduate student, Ambar Cavallo, is finishing her masters degree in May 2021 and will continue for a PhD working on the NOVIC breeding project starting in June 2021. Tracy's sweet corn breeding program will continue to improve sweet corn for production under organic conditions. We are also studying shelf life and harvest window of some of our new varieties. USDA-PGRU will continue the outreach component of this project to a broad community of stakeholders. Short term planned outreach will be conducted virtually. Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Online Common Ground Country Fair is the first of these. Information bulletins with protocols for field operations, seed production, seed processing techniques, and additional sources of information such as eXtension will continue to be updated and provided.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Variety trials: Vegetable variety trials were grown by NOVIC participants in five states. A mother-daughter trial design was used whereby replicated trials were grown at research stations and single rep trials on several organic farms in each region. The trials were evaluated for productivity, earliness, disease resistance and flavor. This year, we had one national trial that all regions performed: a trial of Cucurbita maxima winter squash and especially kabocha types. Individual regions had their own trials of vegetable crops. In some cases, trials were coordinated between regions. In WA, OSA had participatory variety trials on 9 vegetable crops including tomato, spinach, carrot, onion, squash, cabbage, collards, and dry corn. Replicated trials conducted at the OSA research farm with daughter trial sites on 7 farms including Sunfield, Blue Moon, Deep Harvest, Joy Farm, Eldur Heron, Viva Farms, Ebony by Nature and Organic Farm School. Trial coordinators distributed a survey to 22 farmers to solicit input on trials and breeding priorities prior to convening a trial planning meeting in January. At the January meeting, farmers and OSA staff gathered to prioritize the trial crops, set trial evaluation criteria and recommend varieties and seed sources for trials. The trial results are currently being analyzed and variety trial reports will be disseminated by January 2021. Prior year's trial reports were also updated on the eOrganic variety trial database from NOVIC partnering organizations. In WI, we conducted variety trials for winter squash at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station and the Spooner Agricultural Research Station under organic conditions. We also conducted a regional variety trial for butternut squash at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station. These varieties came from public and private sector researchers developing varieties for organic conditions in northern climates and included both released varieties and advanced breeding lines. The trials were evaluated for productivity, earliness, disease resistance and flavor. In NY, we partially accomplished the organic variety trialing goals. A replicated trial was performed at Cornell University for the national winter squash trial coordinated with other NOVIC sites. Under pandemic related restrictions, we were able to conduct on-farm trials remotely but were unable to complete replicated trials for other crops at Cornell. Despite COVID 19 restrictions on much research in CO, we were able to proceed with a successful field season at our research farm in northern Colorado (ARDEC South). Trials included regional tomatoes, regional peppers, and the national winter squash cultivar and breeding line evaluations. The squash trial involved taste tests as well in the fall of 2020. In OR, we conducted the national winter squash trial as well as several regional trials that included shishito peppers, an aji pepper (Capsicum baccatum) observation trial, A mild-hot pepper(C. chinense) replicated trial, an indigo tomato trial and chicory and endive trials. Breeding programs: OSA continued cabbage and sweet corn breeding projects. Ared open-pollinated (OP) cabbage project was overwintered at Nash's Organic Produce, was selected for head quality in March and advanced to the F5 generation at the OSA research farm. Seed from this cycle will be trialed in additional NOVIC trial locations in 2021. "Olympic Sweet" is a participatory sweet corn breeding project to develop an OP, sugary enhanced variety adapted to the mild maritime climate of the Pacific Northwest. The project continued to advance with evaluations of over 200 full-sib families at the OSA research farm and half-sib progeny selected at the Organic Farm School on Whidbey Island. These populations are now at F4 and will be compared in the next couple years to evaluate gains from selection through trials in multiple environments. 'Honey Badger' is a new sweet corn release of the NOVIC project. It is a synthetic super sweet derived from multi-environment trials predicting combining ability of parental lines. This variety and methodology was developed as part of the OSA's Jared Zystro's PhD thesis at Univ. Wisconsin-Madison under the direction of Bill Tracy. It is currently being trialed by seed companies with one indicating interest in commercializing the variety. In 2020 stock seed increase of 'Honey Badger' was produced in CA on a partnering farm. In NY we focused our breeding efforts on winter squash, bell peppers and cucumbers. We completed the analysis of 59 finished butternut breeding lines and hybrids that were generated as a result of NOVIC support. Of these, 8 are commercially distributed with 3 available as conventional seed and 5 available as organic seed. We have since pivoted to breeding C. maxima winter squash toward the creation of bush types with superior culinary quality. Given pandemic related restrictions, we shifted these to the selection of open pollinated populations because due to limited labor in 2020. A bell pepper, 'Crimson Carillon' was released that is an early blocky bell pepper which, like the butternut program represents the culmination of the breeding effort. We shifted our efforts in pepper to elongated types. Cucumber breeding lines were created for high tunnels that are segregating for female flowering habit and parthenocarpy to allow seed saving from seeded individuals within an otherwise seedless population. In Oregon, we released three edible podded pea cultivars that were developed with NOVIC funding from the first iteration of the grant.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Zystro, Jared, Tessa Peters, Kathleen Miller, and William F. Tracy 2020. Classical and genomic prediction of hybrid sweet corn performance in organic environments. Accepted by Crop Science
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Moore, Virginia M. and Tracy, William F. 2020. Combining ability of husk extension, maysin content, and corn earworm resistance. Journal of American Society of Horticultural Science, 1(published ahead of issue), pp.1-10. https://doi.org/10.21273/JASHS04974-20.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Moore, Virginia M. and Tracy, William F. 2020. Survey of organic sweet corn growers identifies corn earworm prevalence, management, and opportunities for plant breeding. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (accepted)
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Moore, Virginia M., 2019. Corn earworm resistance mechanisms in sweet corn: husk length, maysin content, and applications in organic systems. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: King, R.M. and J.R. Myers 2020. Genomic shifts in different agricultural management systems. Annu. Rept. Bean Improv. Coop. 63:63-64.
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Swegarden, Hannah. 2020. Vegetable Pollination Guides: eOrganic (https://eorganic.info/node/34157). Guides include common bean, cole crops, cucumber, garden pea, pepper, potato, squash and tomato.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Myers, J.R. 2019. Lessons Learned in Farmer Participatory Plant Breeding with NOVIC. Southern SSAWG Organic Agriculture Research Forum (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvOuHwGOrBQ&list=PLZMuQJAj6rOquicgEZGthZ83Jvx7aFSSq&index=3) 51 views
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Tyler Mason 2019. An Evaluation of Yield and Quality Characteristics for Vegetable Crops Grown Under Organic Management. Ph.D. dissertation, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO.

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences included organic fresh market farmers in the Pacific Northwest, North Central Plains, and Northeast U.S. In addition, through a plant breeding workshop, the Organic Seed Growers Conference and other outreach venues, information was disseminated to faculty and graduate students at other educational institutions, commercial seed company representatives, and the general public. Changes/Problems:USDA-NPGS-PGRU is normally an exhibitor at the NOFA-NY Winter Conference (Saratoga Springs, NY) where we had ~1,100 attendees in 2018, but activities were cut short in 2018 and completely missed in 2019 due to government furloughs. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two OSA staff have pursued PhD's focused on NOVIC research. Jared Zystro graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison in June 2019 with his thesis focused on genomic predication applied to NOVIC corn breeding. Micaela Colley continues to pursue a PhD from Wageningen University focused on farmer-participatory plant breeding with plans to publish on the NOVIC mother daughter trial design and outcomes of the NOVIC participatory sweet corn breeding projects. Farmer participation in the variety trials and on-farm breeding provided opportunities for direct impacts on the targeted organic farming community. Farmers reported adopting new seed varieties based on their experience in the trials and initiating new seed production and breeding projects as a result of their participation. Technical support staff gained experience managing the crop production, research and breeding and some joined the plant breeding workshop in WA in preparation for a role as an instructor at future workshops. Graduate students in CO, OR, NY and WI gained experience in managing on farm trials and incorporating molecular marker testing in bean breeding. Undergraduate student interns gained experience performing the crop production, research and breeding which should help their planned future agricultural careers. One student who worked in the Cornell vegetable breeding program is now an assistant field manager at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Three undergraduate students supplemented their coursework by joining us in the field for practical experience. Several graduate and at least one undergraduate student attended the 2019 Student Organic Seed Symposium in Dodgeville, WI where they presented on their research and had a chance to network with other students and faculty working in the area of organic plant breeding. Presentations to peers included the following: Zystro, J. and W. Tracy Results of the sweet corn prediction research. Presented at the 2019 Organic Agriculture Research Symposium in Portland, OR (poster and oral presentation), the 2019 Corn Breeding Research (NCCC-167) Meeting in St. Louis, MO (poster and oral presentation). King, R.M. and J.R. Myers Genomic shifts in different agricultural management systems. Bean Improvement Cooperative meetings, Fargo, ND 11/3 - 11/7/19. (poster presentation) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Publications: Loria K. On-Farm Plant Breeding Pt. I: Getting Started with Diversity. July 1, 2019. Small Farms Quarterly. https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2019/07/on-farm-plant-breeding-pt-i-getting-started-with-diversity/ Loria K, What Can Variety Trialing Do for Your Vegetable Farm? April 1, 2019 Small Farms Quarterly. https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2019/04/what-can-variety-trialing-do-for-your-vegetable-farm/ Organic Farmer, "Breeding Better Vegetable for Organic Agriculture" https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/fullscreen/62280511/organic-farmer-dec-jan-2019 Presentations to stakeholders: Field days: Mazourek et al. Vegetable Breeding Institute Field Days. August 26-27, 2019. Freeville NY Mazourek et al. NOVIC plots were an informal stop at our 2019 field day (August 21) with 75 participants. WI researchers hosted a field day at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station on August 22nd for organic vegetable variety trials, (~40 participants) in the organic seed and vegetable farming community. They also hosted an open house at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station on July 23rd attended by about 20 people, primarily organic farmers and gardeners from Northern Wisconsin. Information about NOVIC was provided and participants were able to tour the trials and discuss trials with researchers. Myers, Selman, King, NOVIC field day, Corvallis, OR 9/13/18 (15 participants) Other stakeholder meetings: NOVIC On-Farm Organic Plant Breeding Course, 8/5/19-8/6/19, Chimacum, WA (20 participants). Myers, Colley, Tracy, Mazourek, Zystro and McKenzie participated in presenting a two day workshop on organic plant breeding and seed saving using crops at their research farm and Nash's Organic farm near Sequim WA. Northeast Organic Seed Conference, 1/18/19-1/20/19, Saratoga Springs, NY (60 participants) Myers, Selman, King, NOVIC Farmers winter meeting, Silver Falls, OR, 12/6 - 12/7/18 (~20 participants) Myers, Mazourek, Bjorkman, Selman, Variety Showcase, NYC, NY 1/24/18 Myers, Northern organic vegetable improvement collaborative, OFRF Organic Agricultural Research Forum, Organicology, Portland, OR 2/16/19 Myers, Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative as a model for breeding and trialing vegetable varieties for fresh market organic systems, Washington Tilth, Spokane, WA 11/9/18 (invited) 30 attendees. Michael Mazourek, Edmund Frost, Aaron Varadi, Don Tipping and Jared Zystro. The Power of People and Plant Breeding. Organicology. Feb 15, 2019. 90 minutes, 30 attendees. Mazourek M, Rodekohr E, Loria K. 2019. Vegetable Growers: Help Drive Breeding for Your Needs. NOFA-NY Winter conference. 3 hours. 10 attendees. Kurdieh Z, Mazourek M, Loria K, Inzinna G and Loomis P. Expanding Organic Seed Availability: Farmer Breeder Collaboration. August 21, 2019. Norwich NY. 3hrs 12 attendees Kurdieh, Z, Mazourek M, and the USDA Risk Management Agency. Crop Production: Balancing the Field and Tunnels on an Established Organic Vegetable Operation. Sept 6, 2019. 3hrs 15 attendees. Mazourek & team. On January 18th 2019 we disseminated NOVIC project results to a local grower group of 9 people. We heard from Larimer County farmers which crops were economically important to their operations, and we learned which cultivars they have informally evaluated on their own. In CO, NOVIC results were shared at the High Plains Organic Conference in Cheyenne, WY (~20 participants) February 2019. Results were also shared at Produce Day as part of the Colorado Farm Show in Greeley, CO February 2019. Results are summarized at our webpage: https://specialtycrops.agsci.colostate.edu/research-and-projects/ USDA-NPGS-PGRU distributed educational materials to many clients and users; disseminated our knowledge through publications, exhibits, and presentations at stakeholder's and professional meetings; provided users consultations about seed saving through various means of communication; and led educational tours and discussions with primary, secondary, college and graduate students, and researchers. USDA-PGRU performed outreach that focused on small-scale organic farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, and consumers in four states - NY, ME, OH, and MI. For all events, NOVIC brochures and posters, seed saving literature, sources/vendors of seed cleaning and controlled-pollination equipment and supplies, and eOrganic Web Resources were provided or publicized. Complimentary samples of seed of sweet corn, broccoli, squash, pepper, and tomato were handed out to emphasize the breeding goals of NOVIC. We were exhibitors at the 39th Annual Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association Conference (February 15-17, 2018, Dayton, OH, ~1,200 attendees), Empire Farm Days (August 6 - 8, 2019, Seneca Falls, NY, ~75,000 attendees), the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market Expo and Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo (December 10-12, 2018, Grand Rapids, MI, ~4,000 attendees), and the Common Ground Country Fair, September 21-23, 2018, Unity, ME, ~60,000 attendees each year). Short workshops that included a lecture were presented at the USDA, ARS New England Plant, Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Orono, ME, September 24, 2018, and the 39th Annual Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association Conference, February 17, 2018. Additional NOVIC outreach was performed for groups of students, educators, and other visitors that toured PGRU. In 2018 at the Common Ground Country Fair we demonstrated seed cleaning using a belt thresher, a wet seed processor, an air column and various small manual techniques. We also provided free seed cleaning services and training to attendees upon request. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?All programs are finishing data collection on variety trials conducted during the summer, 2019. We will continue variety trials in 2020 with some trials coordinated nationally, but others left to be determined regionally in consultation with farmers. National trials will include Cucurbita maxima squash and sweet peppers. Farmers' choice trials will be determined regionally. In terms of breeding programs, efforts will continue with WA and WI sweet corn programs sending remnant seed of selected families to a winter nursery in Argentina for intermating. Seed from that nursery will be returned to the U.S. for evaluation in 2020. OSA staff will continue leading the development of OP red cabbage variety in participation with WA farmers. In NY, the most promising butternut squash lines identified in 2019 will be increased in 2020 to share with trial network in 2021. WI tomato breeding and selection for high tunnel production will continue and the tomato breeding program in OR will focus on screening for late blight resistance using a combination of markers and field evaluation. In CO we will continue our metabolite assessment with sweet peppers using DART mass spectrometry. Specifically, we will look at the variables of importance in projection that drive the separation in partial least squares discriminate analysis model between the sweet peppers cultivars. In terms of outreach, each region will work with farmers to identify crops and varieties for evaluation in 2020 and will coordinate on farm daughter trials. Planning meeting with farmers in each region will be held in early 2020 to coordinate farmer-directed on-farm and research station trials. A national project planning meeting is set for February 2020 to coordinate research among institutions. The location for the 2020 on-farm breeding workshop will be identified at that meeting. Each region will conduct field days and other outreach events during the growing season. USDA-ARS-PGRU will continue the outreach component of this project to a broad community of stakeholders, as well as provide resources such as plant material and seed cleaning equipment for a minimum of four outreach events per year. Information bulletins with protocols for field operations, seed production, seed processing techniques, and additional sources of information such as eXtension will continue to be updated and provided.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Variety trials: Vegetable variety trials were grown by NOVIC participants in five states. A mother-daughter trial design was used whereby replicated trials were grown at research stations and single rep trials on several organic farms in each region. The trials were evaluated for productivity, earliness, disease resistance and flavor. The crops trialed and region in () were: cabbage (WA), Carrot (NY, WA & WI), cucumber (NY), dry bean (NY), dry/flour corn (WA) lettuce (CO), melon (OR, WI), onion (WI), mild-hot peppers (CO, OR, WI), purple sprouting broccoli (WA), Spinach (WA), storage onions (WA), sweet peppers (CO, OR, NY, WA, WI), sweet corn (OR & WI), red and gold table beets (WA) tomato (CO, OR, WI, WA), and winter squash (NY, WI, OR, CO). Trials in WI were conducted at two hub locations in Madison and Spooner. Daughter trials were conducted on 13 farms in WA and 7 in OR. Breeding programs: Several projects involving sweet corn are underway. In WI, in the winter of 2018/2019, 25 hybrids were created from 10 untested elite high quality sugary enhancer inbreds from the UW-Madison Sweet Corn Program using a 5x5 NC Design II crossing block. In 2019, the 10 inbreds and 25 hybrids generated from these crosses are being evaluated in replicated trials in WI, OR, and CA. Seed from the highest performing synthetic sweet corn entry grown in the 2017 trials has been sent to six seed companies for evaluation in their 2019 trials to develop an "Everlasting OP". Also in WI, we evaluated tomato breeding lines and parents in organic conditions to develop extra early populations for recurrent selection in high tunnel environments adapted to the upper Midwest. In WA, work on the "Olympic Sweet" corn breeding project continued with 200 plots of full-sib families planted and evaluated at OSA research farm. Ear to row selections were also planted at the Organic Farm School on Whidbey Island. Cabbage Breeding in WA continued with selections planted at Nash's Organic Farm for overwintering and spring head selection and seed production in 2020. Butternut squash breeding continued in NY. Approximately 50 advanced breeding lines were grown and evaluated for yield, quality and disease resistance. A powdery mildew resistance molecular marker developed as part of the USDA-NIFA CucCAP was used to select lines. A pole dry bean breeding project was initiated because of grower requests for disease resistant bean seed that can be grown in the Northeast. Also in NY, the most promising pepper lines from NOVIC II are being evaluated in in 2019. In CO, we conducted an assessment of the metabolite profile from the NOVIC peppers using rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS) and solid phase micro extraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS). Our goal was to characterize the volatile components contributing to flavor in NOVIC bell and roasting peppers using mass spectrometry. In addition, we will be using direct application real time (DART) mass spectrometry (September-October 2019) to assess the metabolite profile of peppers without an extraction step, so that genotypes can be screened for flavor components with minimal sample preparation. Farmer-breeder Jonathan Spero of Lupine Knoll Farm continued improvement of two OPs: Festivity now in the F8 and Zanadoo (F7). Another project whose goal is an orange sweet corn was initiated in 2018 from flint corn supplied by Frank Kutka. Two populations were planted detasseled and crossed to (white) Tuxana sweet corn. In 2019, these two populations were grown out, detasseled, and pollinated by a high carotene su corn from Joseph Lofthouse.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Lyon A, Tracy W, Colley M, Culbert P, Mazourek M, Myers J, Zystro J, Silva EM (2019). Adaptability analysis in a participatory variety trial of organic vegetable crops. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 117. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170518000583
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ryan King 2019. Breeding Snap Beans for Organic Agriculture: Genomic Shifts under Different Agricultural Management Systems. Oregon State University M.S. thesis. https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/kp78gn560?locale=en
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Jared Zystro 2019. Efficient methods to develop new sweet corn cultivars for organic systems. University of Wisconsin-Madison Ph.D. thesis.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cristiana Vallejos 2019. Efficacy of Marker Assisted Selection for Late Blight Resistance in Tomatoes for an Organic System. Oregon State University Senior Thesis.