Register by email at [email protected] $50, worktrade & student discounts are available, pay with check or paypal (use donation button on the right)
Fred Hempel is an organic farmer and plant breeder at Baia Nicchia farm. He breeds tomatoes squash, peppers, & mustard. He sells his own & Ethiopian vegetable varieties through Artisan Seeds. He has released multiple tomato varieties that are sold through partnerships with wholesale producers and seed companies. The course will cover:

• Planning and Tools for Data Assessment:  gather materials; preliminary experiments; prioritize important traits for plant selection
• Seed Saving and Introduction to Reproductive Biology (inbreeding, outcrossing, vegetative propagation, ect.)
• Principles of Selection: what to look out for in order to get the results you want, recognizing mutations, natural crossing between garden neighbors, and line variation b) Selection for, or against, recognized traits
• Introduction to Cross-pollination, and How to create your own Hybrid
• An analysis of Hybrids
• Post-hybrid selection for new open-pollinated varieties.  Selection and data organization
• Politics of Seed: Intellectual property, distribution issues and return-on-investment:  Implications for the use of varieties in breeding, and for paying for your breeding activities.

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