PSI: Goals

This project has both short and long-term potential to increase the number and quality of seed varieties now offered by remaining and new seed companies.

This project aims to dovetail with regional seed companies and engage our most knowledgeable producers in on-farm seed breeding, especially with varieties that work in organic systems.

Changes in the seed industry have led to a decline in varieties that perform well in the Northeast. The organic/alternative farming community has been most affected by these changes, thus much of the PSI project focuses on this community. Public plant breeders may have developed varieties suitable for the Northeast, but large seed companies have not commercialized these varieties for economic and/or other reasons. We want to access these “off the shelf varieties” and look at how they perform in organic systems, which will hopefully lead to some varieties being commercialized by small seed companies.

Our goals are to…

Establish a connection between seed companies, university researchers, non-profit organizations, government agencies and small-scale seed producers.
Better distribute the accomplishments of public breeding programs and in turn, make new vegetable varieties available to growers across the country.
Increase the number of growers knowledgeable in small-scale commercial seed production and plant breeding techniques and provide connections between those growers and small-scale seed companies.
Increase the number of regional growers having the capacity to provide commercial grade seed.
Provide vegetable varieties specially adapted to the needs of organic and regional market growers.