These broccoli produced more food looking blossoms compared to the rest. They are the only ones I allowed to live.
Jeremy, are you still seeking Broccoli seed? I have some of this, a simply extraordinary landrace born of a most unusual (traditional) scientific plant breeding program out of Oregon State. The population - also described as seminal, pioneering example of participatory plant breeding by the high science crew - was originally created to provide the basis for segregating out stable lines for commercial cropping, but in the effort, what has essentially emerged is one of the most sophisticatedly-stewarded genepools in our midst. It began as a diverse breeding population from a random mating of six contemporary F1 hybrid varieties (Arcadia, Barbados, Decathlon, Excelsior, San Miguel, and Shogun) and 17 inbred lines that had been developed through the OSU Vegetable Breeding Program; followed by four years of random mating without selection to maximize recombination and genetic diversity within the population; with further population improvement carried out over the next seven years with farmer participation using a divergent-convergent scheme.
First assembled by OSU’s Jim Myers in 1997 it has evolved extensively in the decades since - at the hands of OSU plant breeders and others. Indeed, ‘Solstice’, the highly regarded cultivar developed by Jonathan Spero, an Oregon-based pillar of the independent, organic plant breeding movement was born of this population. ‘Umpqua’, another OP Broccoli standard familiar to many of us in the PNW, and developed by Tim Peters - also an Oregon-based, independent, organic plant breeder - emerged from the Broccoli breeding population created by Jim’ Myers’ predecessor, Jim Baggett. So, we already have a tradition of freelance, grassroots plant stewards standing upon the shoulders of world-class, public-domain, scientific plant-breeders. The shoulders of giants, no less. Never mind its extraordinary future promise, the diversity contained in OSU’s Broccoli grex defines it as a powerhouse perfectly suited to further local adaptation now. Where, for example, a broad maturity window of 60-100 days makes it total anathema to industrial growers, it is, alternatively, very well-suited to homestead life and, as befits its open-pollinated genetics, adaptation to local climate chaos. In point of fact, it’s no understatement to say this OP population represents a single-population cornerstone of planetary Broccoli diversity. We’re also strangely lucky to have some useful pieces of intel to consider:
a) a video from Laurie McKenzie, now of OSA, who worked on the grex as part of her masters at OSU https://youtu.be/RY_PIeyqYow?si=WZqs19qZTQyQCCSj
b) a tweet addressing the CMS trip (most conventional Broccoli is GMO) with video description from Andrew Still at Adaptive Seeds https://x.com/nick_routledge/status/1673698465480843264?s=20
I’m working with a plant breeding pal in the OSU/USDA nexus and who remains close to the OSU program, to collate a comprehensive education package describing everything anyone could possibly want to know about Broccoli selection and seed production, specifically to support this population, too.
I don’t have much seed left but would be happy to put it your way.
Hi Nick,
I would certainly be interested in acquiring the broccoli seed you mentioned!
Yes, it does have a strong appeal doesn’t it? At this juncture Malcolm, my team (the Agrarian Sharing Network Seed Increase Initiative) has very little seed and we are necessarily being very judicious about where the remainder goes. Specifically, we’re focused on seed increase. Here’s some quick, explanatory context by way of aside. Perhaps there’s a fit for you this season. If not, next…
The creation of that Broccoli grex was defined, in part, by a Participatory Plant Breeding element. Indeed, in the formal scientific literature, I see the OSU Broccoli project recognized as a highly significant evolution of an organic plant-breeding model involving partnerships among formal sector breeders and researchers, farmers, extension agents, educators, and end users, and furthermore one which fundamentally changed the way that formal breeding programs and farmers manage germplasm and plant genetic resources. Clearly, a high-level, formal scientific effort at holism. I suspect it no ‘mistake’ we’re into the mix, even as an unofficial late arrival.
Couple of interesting points to note about the results. First, what the participatory element showed was that there were very few differences between broccoli materials developed by formally trained plant breeders and farmer breeders. In other words, you don’t necessarily need a degree in plant science to get it right. Furthermore, when the farmer breeder and formal breeder materials were pooled together and compared to pooled check cultivars they expressed significant differences for nearly all traits across all years, demonstrating that all of the collaboratively developed open pollinated materials are distinctly different from the F1 hybrids currently available. Clearly, the diversity represented in this landrace has immense ecological promise.
Second and what I think is particularly notable for the landrace model, is that the ‘East Coast’ population, which had been collaboratively selected by formal and farmer breeders in New York, expressed significantly distinct differences from the PNW materials. Localization clearly made a vast difference.
As for seed distribution, this season, we’ve been blessed to find a farmer-grower in S. Oregon planning on putting 700 plants into the ground for us. If and as that seed increase project produces, we will have seed to readily share. Yes, he’ll be selecting on the population, which means we’ll already be focusing on genetics that, for example, reflect the reality of summer drought and paced, supplemental irrigation. Naturally, there’ll be a genotypic shift in the population though, more importantly at this point, we are confident our farmer can produce good seed at scale. If and as we have that, we can truly free the landrace. In the meantime, Julia placed part of the population in northern California and in the Midwest. I’m not entirely sure how dialed in to the problematic requirements of Broccoli genetics those growers are but hey, it’s a start at diversification.
Problematic? Broccoli’s a real prima donna among heading Brassicas and almost the classic representative of a crop type that succumbs to drift and inbreeding depression in a heartbeat if it’s not managed well. Checking in with plant breeders - holistic-independents as well as formally-trained folk - what I consistently hear from them is the need for sizeable populations for seed increases so that we do not immediately begin bottle-necking the genetics. One of the more avant-garde independents I work closely with - his leaf Brassica landrace quickly became EFN’s most popular variety upon its release a couple of years back - suggested going with a population of 1,000 plants. Holy guacamole. What we’re recommending for seed increase at this point is 130 though 150-250 if you’re going to rogue a lot. It would be great if we could secure more ground, outside of S. Oregon, for a seed increase this season. At this point, I have just about enough seed for another increase at scale.
I suspect we would be open to a co-ordinated effort among landrace gardeners to collaborate on a participatory model. I honestly don’t have the knowhow to determine how that might best work but it seems like it might perhaps offer a way forward to address Broccoli’s peculiarities and the reality of stewardship at the horticultural scale.
Thanks Nick, maybe next growing season I can participate in this project!
When you’ve worked with commercial hybrids, how do you avoid problems with CMS? Or were those hybrids you mentioned produced before CMS was widely used?
Do you think those large population sizes are needed for more diverse populations? I’ve heard some people argue that large populations are not needed if the population contains enough starting genetic diversity, since each plant in such a population is more like a hybrid than a standard “OP” (inbred) plant.
Pre-CMS, the material. And yet another reason this population represents our ultimate and likely final opportunity to make a proper go of things.
It’s a real challenge, CMS, especially in Broccoli, which was one of the first major vegetable crops to go GMO. Heat-tolerance in Broccoli is a modern plant-breeding advancement now almost entirely locked behind CMS, for example. The Brazilian OP variety, Piracicaba, likely our best source for that particular emphasis.
I tried growing Piracicaba a while back, but was not impressed with it. I’m not sure why it didn’t do well. And maybe I got a bad strain.
I suppose there must be pollen-fertile breeding lines of all these CMS varieties available somewhere. Companies drop varieties all the time, and I suppose that when that happens the breeding lines go extinct. I wonder if any seed companies would be willing to release their fertile lines to be “dehybridized”. The big companies probably wouldn’t, but some of the mid-sized operations that sell to organic market farmers might.
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I knew the top dog at Tozers some years ago (they dominated the global market for overwintering broccoli and overwintering caulis) and I’d done him a favor or two in terms of getting him kale genetics, just when they were transitioning all their caulis and overwintering Broccolis over to F1s. Pleaded the case quite eloquently for access to their OP material. Absolutely not.