Agricultural Research Service

Awards Issued Prior to January 20, 2025, Were Funded Under Previous Administrations and May Not Reflect the Priorities and Policies of the Current Administration. This Project Builds on the Germplasm, Methods and Technologies Developed in Three Previous Orei Projects to Achieve the Objective of Enabling Seed Companies to Use Organic Management to Produce Corn Seed Sold to Organic Farmers. We Will Do This by Developing 3-WAY Hybrids That Are Better-suited to Organic Seed Production Than the Single-cross Hybrids Currently Marketed by Most Companies. These Hybrids Will Carry Traits Desired by Organic Producers Such as High Levels of the Essential Nutrient Methioinine and the Ability to Exclude Gmo Pollen Using the GA1 Pollen Exlusion System. We Propose to Develop a New Rapid Cycling Breeding Method That Combines the Contemporary Methods of Genomic Slection and Doubled Haploid Breeding With an Organic- Friendly Breakthrough Techonology Called Spontaneous Haploid Genome Doubling. This Approach Will Allow Us to Produce New Varieties in About One Fourth the Time Required by Current Methods. a Key Outreach Activity Will Be Two Organic Corn Breeding Boot Camps Held at Our Winter Nursery Site in Puerto Rico and Attended by Midwest Farmer Cooperators, Project Investigators, and Student Interns From the Univeristy of Puerto Rico. Attendees Will Work Togther to Produce Seed and Plan On-farm Trials for the Following Summer. Interns Will Travel to the FARMERS' Locations in the Summer to Assist With the Trials. the Boot Camp Will Provide a Novel Opportunity for Farmers and Breeders to Cooperate in the Process of Variety Development and Testing.