This webinar was recorded on July 13, 2016.
About the Webinar
Hawk-eyed gardeners may notice plant-to-plant differences after sowing saved seed. What can they do to isolate the best of these variants and establish their own varieties? In this webinar the presenters describe the procedures they followed as part of an OREI organic dry bean breeding project to identify and select plants within four heirloom dry bean varieties, and to generate new varieties with improved adaptation to upper Midwest growing conditions. These approaches can be applied to CSA, market garden and backyard garden-scale situations by aspiring freelance plant breeders who wish to take on the challenge of fine tuning adaptation to local conditions or maintaining unique types discovered in naturally self-pollinating food plants. This webinar is the result of research funded by NIFA OREI and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and is suitable for organic farmers and gardeners who are interested in seed breeding and saving.
About the Presenter
Thomas Michaels is a Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota and coordinator of the undergraduate major in Food Systems.
