Garnished on top of a freshly baked hamburger bun or deeply nestled within a crunchy granola bar, tiny sesame seed seldom gets enough of our attention. But it’s captured the interest of […]
Sesame cultivation: expansion versus temperature stress
What is the quinoa seed and germplasm collection like?
You may never have heard of quinoa before 2013. That’s when the United Nations ran a campaign to promote awareness of this cereal crop. Now, many people enjoy a bowl of cooked […]
Where does pyrethrum come from?
If you’re a gardener, you may have heard of the common trick to plant chrysanthemums around your garden to deter pests. Marigolds work, too. This is because the flowers naturally are high […]
Why is it important to increase genetic diversity in crops, especially in soybean?
Most of us have a favorite variety of apple. ‘HoneyCrisp’ is my new favorite because, as the name implies, the taste is super sweet, and the bite is crunchy. For apple pies, […]
How a new malting barley variety for California came to be
Beer made from barley grains has been consumed since ancient Egyptian times. Modern day growers plant what is profitable – and grains for malting barley command higher prices than animal feed grains. […]
How are seeds labeled for a farmer’s purchase?
When planning their successful farming enterprise, farmers often start with buying high-quality seed. Before even reaching the marketplace, Certified Seed goes through inspection to ensure: the amount of weed seeds present does […]
What is the status of public plant breeding programs in the United States?
Most plant-based foods we eat today are a product of innovative plant breeding programs. Careful choice of plant parents is followed by a multitude of intentional, hand-pollinated blooms. These result in thousands […]
How can crops that are not grown from seeds be conserved in gene banks?
Plant genebanks, such as the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS), conserve vast collections of crops. They are saved for use in breeding and research programs. These collections are primarily conserved as […]
What can the wild chile teach us about conserving crop wild relatives?
There is a humble, wild chile pepper that grows in Arizona. Commonly called chiltepín, it is the wild relative of hundreds of domesticated pepper varieties grown (and eaten) all over the world. […]
Giving flax a perennial upgrade with crop wild relatives
Flaxseed is one of humanity’s oldest, and most widely adopted multi-use crops. For over ten thousand years, the oil-rich seeds have been an important source of nutrition for both humans and livestock. […]