CORVALLIS, Ore. — Growers producing organically certified crops are often required to use organically produced seed. Yet despite growing demand for organic seed, growers have limited access to research-based guidance on best production practices.
A coalition that includes three Oregon State University Extension Service researchers has received a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to strengthen organic seed production in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide.
“This project has the capacity to produce a tremendous amount of data and includes a very robust education plan, which is rare."
The four-year project is led by the Organic Seed Alliance, based in Port Townsend, Washington. Oregon State University Extension Service researchers Kristie Buckland, Alice Formiga and Cynthia Ocamb are key investigators. The Willamette Valley and Washington’s Skagit Valley are among the top regions for seed production in the United States.
“This project has the capacity to produce a tremendous amount of data and includes a very robust education plan, which is rare,” said Buckland, an Extension vegetable and specialty seed crop specialist at the OSU North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora.
In addition to the Organic Seed Alliance, Buckland, Formiga and Ocamb will collaborate with about a dozen researchers in Vermont, Colorado, New York, North Carolina, Washington and Wisconsin. A project of this scale focused specifically on organic seed production is the first of its kind.
“The collaborative approach is really impressive,” Buckland said, crediting Jared Zystro, research and education assistant director at the Organic Seed Alliance, who wrote the grant.
“Jared has put together a team that is highly integrated while also serving regions across the country,” said Buckland, an associate professor in Oregon State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
Meeting the need for organic seed research
Demand for organic food continues to grow. According to USDA data, organic retail sales increased by 40% between 2001 and 2021.
“There’s a clear marketplace demand for access to high-quality organic food, and that demand has been increasing over the past decade,” Buckland said.
As demand has grown, Oregon growers have raised concerns with Oregon State and state legislators about the lack of research-based information on organic seed production.
“Growers need research to identify the best varieties and the most effective management practices for organic systems,” Buckland said.
Equally important is ensuring that research findings reach producers, said Formiga, an assistant professor of practice in the College of Agricultural Sciences and executive director of eOrganic, an organization dedicated to sharing accessible, science-based information on organic agriculture.
“The producers who need this information don’t always have easy access if research is only published in peer-reviewed journals using technical language,” Formiga said.
Sharing research as it happens
A central goal of the grant is to share research results through educational resources while the project is ongoing, Formiga said. She brings a background in library and information science to the effort.
“One of the core values of librarianship is making information accessible,” she said. “That’s where this project really intersects with Extension.”
Researchers will gather data from multiple sources, including growers themselves.
“A huge part of the project is crowd-sourced data,” Buckland said. “Collaborators will collect data from producers across the country on their management strategies and yields.”
Researchers will also conduct field trials nationwide to compare how different management techniques affect yield, disease pressure and insect impacts.
“We’ll vary plant spacing within rows and evaluate the effects on yield, disease management and insect pressure,” Buckland said.
Research trials and seed health
Oregon State will host irrigation trials at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center, testing how different irrigation rates affect seed production. Buckland noted that climate change is making historical weather-based irrigation models less reliable.
Another major component of the project focuses on seed disinfestation practices to reduce pathogen risks.
“Over the past 30 years, no single technique has consistently emerged as the best treatment,” said Ocamb, an Oregon State professor of plant pathology in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
“There’s a significant lack of information about seed-borne pathogens in organic seed production,” Ocamb said. “Pathogens can be transported to areas where they may survive and create long-term problems.”
Ocamb’s research will compare different seed treatments to determine which methods most effectively deactivate pathogens without harming seed viability.
Education and outreach nationwide
The grant, funded through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Organic Research and Extension Initiative, supports outreach across the United States. Oregon State and partner institutions will host in-person workshops, events and field days, while online tools such as webinars and digital resources will extend access for growers unable to travel.
“A seed-cleaning video will be huge,” Buckland said. “People are going to watch that forever.”
Previously titled Oregon researchers part of first-of-its-kind national research partnership in organic seed production
