by Kana Miller, CFSA Local Food Distribution Coordinator | Wednesday, May 18, 2022 —
On a bright, sunny day, a farmer stands in a waist-high crop wearing a baseball hat and a button-up white shirt
Kristyn Leach, farmer at Namu Farm (Winters, CA) and founder of Second Generation Seeds. Credit: Kristyn Leach.

Growing and eating specialty varieties of Asian vegetables connects me to my Japanese identity. On the small vegetable farm that my partner and I manage in Lewisville, NC, selecting Asian seeds is fun and deeply personal. As I flip through seed catalogs, I think about the foods I want to eat and the vegetables I’d like to share with my Japanese mother. I imagine the flavors and textures I want to invoke with my cooking.

Last summer, I tried growing three different Japanese varieties of winter squash. I carefully selected the squash seeds from Kitazawa Seed Company: Blue Kuri Kabocha, Uchiki Kuri, and Shishigatani. I learned a lot during this experiment. I remember the joy and heartache of starting seeds and rearing transplants. The joy that came from the first sight of cotyledons; the despair from scorching a couple of young plants in the hot summer sun after planting; and finally, the pride during harvest and zeal while carefully selecting recipes to test out the squash flavors.

A close up of a baby winter squash plant growing in soil. A farmer is walking up in the background. Mature winter squash plants with broad leaves and a few with yellow flowers. A high tunnel stands in the background.
(Left) A close-up of one of the winter squash growing at Kana’s farm in Lewisville, NC. (Right) Mature squash plants later in the season. Credit: Kana Miller.

My desire to learn more about preserving and growing specialty, heirloom Asian vegetables has grown with the increasing popularity of Asian vegetables and herbs in the sustainable agriculture and culinary scenes. In this context, it was with great enthusiasm that I sat down for a conversation with Kristyn Leach, farmer for Namu Farm and founder of Second Generation Seeds. We talked about Kristyn’s partnership with Kitazawa and the seed trialing process that eventually led to the development of Second Generation as its own company. Kristyn also shared the questions she often asks herself when running her farm and seed company, and we declared our love for soybeans!

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by Chris Smith, The Utopian Seed Project | Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020 – 

As the executive director of The Utopian Seed Project, I’ve been working with Seed Savers Exchange, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and Working Food on a project to build a coalition of seed stewards, gardeners, farmers, chefs, and seed companies to preserve heirloom collard varieties and their culinary and cultural heritage.

Grid of 20 collard varieties

There’s lots to love about The Heirloom Collard Project. Two highlights include:

  • A Collard Week (Dec.14-17, 2020) of fantastic collard-focused presentations from people like Michael Twitty, Chef Ashleigh Shanti, and Ira Wallace.
  • A 20-variety collard trial happening right now, which includes more than 230 gardeners across the nation and eight farm trial sites growing all 20 varieties. (I’m one of the lucky eight to have all those collards in my field!)

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By Kiki Hubbard, Organic Seed Alliance  | Monday, Mar. 25, 2019 –

Farmers looking for disease-resistant cucurbits now have more choices thanks to the release of new cucumber and melon varieties by Cornell University—the result of years of research by public plant breeders and organic farmers. These varieties are a result of participatory breeding efforts focused on cucurbits most in need of improvement and exhibit exceptional resistance to evolving diseases as well as production and culinary characteristics important to organic farmers.

“Our approach to plant breeding involves a close collaboration with farmers, regional seed companies, and other researchers to test varieties in the environment of their intended use,” says Michael Mazourek with the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell University. “In the case of these cucurbit varieties, they were all bred with the needs of organic farmers in mind.”

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by Eric Soderholm, Organic Production Coordinator 

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When thumbing through the pages of a seed catalog there is a great deal of information to take in regarding how specific crop varieties might perform on your farm. The unfortunate reality is that there is not enough data available concerning which varieties are suited to the unique management techniques, regional conditions and market demands organic growers face here in the Carolinas. This can be particularly frustrating when working with companies that offer performance tips which are based on target regions entirely outside of our own. While a handful of noble advocates for regional seed systems have been making headway on this issue here in the southeastern US – working on conducting and sharing the results of replicated variety trials – the work ahead is still tremendous.  Bridging this information gap will require the concerted effort of a network of growers and researchers working collaboratively. Read on to get a very basic introduction to some of the design concepts of variety trials and to learn about how you can connect and share your experiences with CFSA and our network through an upcoming publication called the Seed and Variety Trial Report . (more…)

by Eric Soderholm, Organic Production Coordinator

The following builds on the tips provided in the September 2014 eNews entitled “On-farm Variety Trial Design Considerations, Part 1.” 

When planning a variety trial, the key traits you need to observe and measure and the protocol you use to evaluate them deserve considerable forethought. Once the trial is laid out, planted and maintained for several weeks or months, you won’t get a second chance to collect comparative data once a crop reaches and passes prime maturity. Don’t let your efforts in developing a uniformly treated, replicated trial go to waste; think ahead about what is important to your operation. Spend some time drafting a list of what you value in a particular crop. Do you favor kale varieties that produce vigorous seedlings and can compete with germinating weeds? Perhaps you want pea varieties that have long harvest windows for your CSA and farmers’ market sales. Crop evaluation traits will fall into one of two categories: qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative traits—like fruit shape, flavor, and uniformity— are often evaluated using a standardized rating scale that is developed ahead of time. Quantitative traits can be measured in an appropriate unit (lbs, inches, etc…) or by rating, which would include yield, fruit diameter, or days to maturity. (more…)