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return to Farmers
Independent Weekly
September
26, 2002
By Allison Schoofs, Department
of Plant Science |
When
it comes to organic farming are all crop varieties created
equal?
Successful
breeding programs select plants under the cultural practices
that approximate those of current farming practices. For the
first 50 years of plant breeding history on the prairies,
crops were bred under low-input systems typical of the commercial
production of the time. As input use intensified in farming
systems over the last 50 years, breeding programs followed
suit by breeding crops under those same high input conditions.
This begs the questions - do varieties developed under high
input breeding systems perform well in organic cropping systems?
Traits
lost in modern varieties
Stephen
Jones, a breeder at Washington State University feels that
modern breeding programs fail to introduce the needed variation
in their germplasm to select for traits that are unique to
organic systems. The traits desirable under an organic cropping
system include ability to compete with weeds, multiple disease
resistance, the potential to perform well under low fertility
conditions and others such as the ability to survive aggressive
harrowing. Jones estimates that hundreds of these traits are
lost in modern varieties and can only be recaptured through
the reintroduction of older and wild varieties into breeding
programs. J.P. Welsh of the Elm Farm Research Centre in Berkshire,
UK postulates that the pedigree line breeding technique used
in modern breeding systems has actually increased the need
for synthetic inputs because of the loss of genetic variation.
An experiment
in the UK tracked the performance of winter wheat varieties
under an organic variety trial vs. the traditional high-input
variety trial. These variety trials would be analogous to
our own MCVET testing system. Results showed that the variety
Claire produced the highest yields in the organic trials for
the last two years. This same variety under the conventional
trials was half way down the list for yield performance and
was out-yielded by Deben, the same variety that it out-yielded
in the organic trials.
Organic
breeding approaches
The approach
to rectify this problem is two-pronged at the Washington State
University winter wheat breeding program. First, existing
modern breeding lines are being tested under certified organic
conditions. In addition to this, hundreds of crosses are being
made in the greenhouse between new, modern varieties and varieties
grown in the US Pacific Northwest from the 1840s to 1950.
These crosses and subsequent generations will be grown in
organic fields so that these lines will have advanced through
the entire selection process under organic cultural practices.
The newly developed organic varieties will then be tested
against the modern varieties under very low input systems
to evaluate the gain obtained from selection.
Farmer/buyer
involvement key
An approach
to organic breeding in the Netherlands by the Louis Bolk Instituut
involves organic farmers and grain buyers directly. The core
of the approach is the development of ideotypes. Ideotypes
are lists of characteristics that farmers and grain buyers
desire in their ideal variety. To develop an ideotype, the
Loius Bolk Instituut organizes a field visit to variety trials
with farmers and buyers, asking them to evaluate the varieties
represented. These evaluations are input for further discussions
by the breeders themselves where the final ideotype is developed.
In the next step, various plant breeders are invited to send
in varieties that fit the ideotype. These varieties are grown
in variety trials in organic farmers' fields. These variety
trials are visited with farmers, buyers and breeders, triggering
further discussions in which selections are made and the breeding
process continues. Finally, the varieties developed from this
program will enter the European Union's official organic variety
testing system.
The
future for organic breeding
The consensus
amongst participants at the IFOAM World Organic Congress was
that current breeding systems did not produce varieties well-suited
to organic cropping systems and that an agro-ecological approach
to breeding needs to be taken. This approach would select
for more "efficient" varieties under organic cropping
systems. One of the added benefits to this approach is the
thought that traits that are currently in danger of being
lost will be saved. Sharon Rempel of the Heritage Wheat Project
in Edmonton, AB says that heritage varieties that were selected
for before the intensification of synthetic chemical use once
fed people and could do so again.
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