Against the grain

Summary

An Organic Research Centre project is examining how diversity-based tools can assist in the on-farm improvement of organic wheat.
Successful organic crop production requires varieties that are resistant to diseases, competitive against weeds, and effective at scavenging nutrients. Yet conventional plant breeding has largely neglected organic systems by breeding varieties exclusively for high input conditions. As a consequence, organic producers currently do not have enough choice of plant varieties for organic conditions.
One way to expand the choice is to create plant diversity anew and subject it to natural selection on organic farms.
After several generations the dominating plants would be better suited to organic systems. This idea is being tested in the Organic Research Centre’s Wheat Breeding LINK project.