Breeding for Organic Crops: Course Material Development
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Creative Components Dissertations Fall 2020 Breeding for organic crops: Course material development Christy Motes Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/creativecomponents Part of the Plant Breeding and Genetics Commons Recommended Citation Motes, Christy, "Breeding for organic crops: Course material development" (2020). Creative Components. 667. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/creativecomponents/667 This Creative Component is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Creative Components by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Breeding for organic crops: Course material development by Christy Michelle Motes A creative component submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major: Plant Breeding Program of Study Committee: Anthony A. Mahama, Co-major Professor Thomas Lubberstedt, Co-major Professor The student author, whose presentation of the scholarship herein was approved by the program of study committee, is solely responsible for the content of this creative component. The Graduate College will ensure this creative component is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2020 Copyright © Christy M. Motes, 2020. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENT Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................................1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 Organic agriculture land use ...................................................................................................... 1 Organic food market share ...................................................................................................... 10 Organic organizations .............................................................................................................. 13 Government regulations .......................................................................................................... 14 Farming systems ...................................................................................................................... 15 Organic cultivar development ................................................................................................. 16 Organic seed production .......................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ....................................................................22 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................25 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Lubberstedt and Dr. Mahama for their guidance and feedback during this project. Thank you to Michelle Zander for always being helpful and supportive through my years in the program. Also, thank you to Casey Smith for guiding me through the paperwork and oral exam scheduling. I would like to thank my family for their support, encouragement and for always pushing me to finish. Thank you to my friends and colleagues at the Noble Research Institute, LLC. for the many wonderful discussions and words of encouragement. I appreciate the tuition assistance provided by the Noble Research Institute, LLC. through the employee education reimbursement program. iv ABSTRACT Concerns over pesticide usage and the desire to build the soil creating a sustainable farming environment grew the organic farming movement. As the organic industry developed, organizations formed to provide oversight, standards, and regulations. The organic farming industry has continued to grow and does not appear to be slowing down. The consumption of organic foods is increasing as well as the number of hectares of organic production. With this expansion, the industry has recognized the need for plant breeding programs to produce plant varieties with traits to survive and thrive under low-input conditions as well compete with weeds and not succumb to the stress of insects and diseases. Several different plant breeding approaches are being used to produce new varieties better suited for organic systems. As new varieties are developed, another hurdle in seed production has been realized. Production of quality organic seed in quantities that facilitate large scale production will keep the industry moving forward and help meet the demands of consumers. 1 LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction Organic agriculture utilizes cultural, biological, and mechanical methods to promote conservation and restoration of the soil and other resources. Building a harmonic environment by cycling on site resources, balancing ecology, and conserving biodiversity are important concepts to organic agriculture (National Organic Program, 2015). Breeding crops with the traits to excel under organic conditions is emerging as a scientific discipline. Organic producers require cultivars adapted to organic and sustainable farming systems as well as, organically produced seed or vegetative propagation material produced under organic regulations following the organic guidelines (Messmer et al., 2015). Organic plant breeding and seed production is vital to this growing sector of agriculture. Organic agriculture land use A global survey of 2018 data showed 186 of the 239 countries/territories covered in the survey, or 78%, had some form of data for organic agriculture (Figure 1) (Willer et al., 2020). 2018 World Organic Agriculture 22% Countries/Territories with Organic Agriculture data Countries/Territories without Organic 78% Agriculture data Source: FiBL survey 2020. Table 1: Countries and territories covered by the global survey on organic agriculture 2018 (Willer et al., 2020). Figure 1. In 2018, 78% of the world countries/territories covered by the global survey on organic agriculture had some form of organic agriculture data (Willer et al., 2020). 2 Globally in 2018, 71.5 million hectares were dedicated to organic agriculture, representing 1.5% of the total agricultural land (Willer et al., 2020). Oceania, comprised of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island states, accounted for half the land utilized for organic agriculture with 36.0 million hectares, 99% of this organic land being in Australia. Europe had the second largest area of organic agricultural land followed by Latin America and Asia (Figures 2 and 3) (Willer et al., 2020). Total Organic Agricultural Land (ha) by Region 3% 9% Africa Asia 22% 50% Europe Latin America 11% North America Oceania 5% Source: FiBL survey 2020. Note: Agricultural land includes in-conversion areas and excludes wild collection, aquaculture, forest, and non- agricultural grazing areas. Table 2: World: Organic agricultural land (including in-conversion areas) and regions’ shares of the global organic agricultural land 2018 (Willer et al., 2020). Figure 2. Regional distribution of total organic agricultural land (Willer et al., 2020). 3 Organic Agricultural Land (ha) by Region 35,999,373 15,635,505 8,008,581 6,537,226 2,003,976 3,335,002 Africa Asia Europe Latin America North America Oceania Source: FiBL survey 2020. Note: Agricultural land includes in-conversion areas and excludes wild collection, aquaculture, forest, and non- agricultural grazing areas. Table 2: World: Organic agricultural land (including in-conversion areas) and regions’ shares of the global organic agricultural land 2018 (Willer et al., 2020). Figure 3. Total hectares of organic agricultural land in each region (Willer et al., 2020). Of the world’s total organic agriculture land usage in 2018, 73% was permanent grassland, 20% was arable crops, and 7% was permanent crops (Figure 4) (Willer et al., 2020). 2018 Total (ha) World Land Use in Organic Agriculture 20% Arable Crops 7% Permanent Crops Permanent Grassland 73% Source: FiBL survey 2020, based on information from the private sector, certifiers, and governments. Table 15: World: Land use in organic agriculture by region (including in-conversion areas) 2018 (Willer et al., 2020). Figure 4. Categories of world land use in organic agriculture (Willer et al., 2020). 4 There are increasing demands for organic products as seen by the increasing number of certified organic farms. In the USA from 2015 to 2016, the number of certified organic farms increased by 11% to 14,217 farms with the number of hectares increasing to 2 million hectares (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2017a; National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2017c). The operated organic land breakdown was 1.1 million hectares of cropland and 0.9 million hectares of pasture and rangeland producing a total value of $7.6 billion dollars of certified organic agricultural products sold, including $4.2 billion dollars of crops (including nursery and greenhouse crops) (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2017c). Data comprising of USDA reported data from