Farmer Participatory Trials and Breeding in Poland – the results of the project Ecobreed.

Abstract

<p>IHAR-PIB in Młochów is a participant of European project ECOBREED: Increasing the competitiveness of the organic breeding and farming sectors (acronym ECOBREED), funded by Horizon 2020 programme The project is coordinated by the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia and carried out in collaboration with 24 partner organizations representing 15 countries ECOBREED will improve the availability of seed and cultivars suitable for organic and low- input production Activities will focus on four crop species, selected for their potential contribution to increase competitiveness of the organic sector, i e common wheat, potato, soybean and common buckwheat Since potato cultivars suitable for organic farming should have a slightly different set of 'mandatory characteristics' than conventional ones, breeding of such cultivars differ from conventional breeding It is believed, that selection of cultivars destined to organic farming could be strongly improved by active participation of farmers (Participatory Breeding) Vision on organic plant breeding is based on the cyclic interaction between plant and environment, and between farmer (and the rest of the production chain) and breeder Cultivars will be optimally adapted to organic growing conditions when they have been selected, maintained and multiplicated in these conditions Therefore, in the Ecobreed project conduction of a series of field trials in contrasting soil and climate zones were planned In the frame of this network of field trials local organic farmers will be involved into breeding process and their activities will includes among others evaluation of cultivars and selection of breeding materials that are particularly suited to their requirements and preferences (Farmer Participatory Trials) In the case of potatoes, each participant committed to cooperate with at least four farmers who run their farms under the organic system IHAR-PIB started cooperation with four such farms Two of them are located in Podkarpackie voivodeship (Połomia and Tuligłowy) and are located in the Mazowieckie voivodeship (Jadwisin and Grabów) Thanks to this, farmers can actively engage in the breeding process, having the opportunity to choose cultivars adapted to their specific environment and growing conditions.</p&gt