In many ways, feeding the hungry and working to alleviate poverty is in my genetic makeup. Beyond the food-filled holiday gatherings with family that I cherish, I’ve also learned how my grandparents ...

When his children were small, Irwin Goldman wanted to give them a beet to snack on — a beet so pretty and swirled with colors, so juicy and delicious, that they’d crunch on it raw. So Goldman, a ...

Michael Mazourek and Dan Barber can trace the roots of their unusual partnership to a winter squash. A few years ago, Mazourek, a vegetable breeder and professor of plant science at Cornell University ...

When I moved to Portland four years ago and began frequenting the farmers’ market, it didn’t take me long to become obsessed with Gathering Together Farm’s vegetables. The farm’s stand drew me in with ...

Crop breeding research and innovation requires funding. But funding -- and revenue from the crops developed -- is increasingly hard to obtain. In response, a group of plant breeders met to discuss ...

Breeding of diverse varieties like these peppers, bred at the Student Farm at UC Davis, is increasingly important for organic growers. A new effort to provide California growers with seeds for tomato, ...

Certain species of maple have earned a nasty reputation that plant breeder Ryan Contreras aims to change. Norway and Amur maples are known to “escape cultivation” — a euphemism for becoming invasive — ...

The 2020 recipient of the National Association of Plant Breeders Lifetime Achievement Award, given for distinguished long-term service to the plant breeding discipline through research, teaching, ...

Plants have clever ways of defending themselves. In fact, the smell of freshly cut grass is not only a sign of spring, but a remarkable example of evolution. Your lawn is actually sending out a ...

FARGO — Joel Thorsrud was planning to make a gift to North Dakota State University's ag department. When he was given a list of the college's biggest ag needs, seeing a soybean plant breeder at the ...