James Myers

Baggett-Frazier Endowed Professor of Vegetable Breeding and Genetics

Before coming to OSU, I spent 10 years as a dry bean breeder at University of Idaho Kimberly Research and Extension Center where I developed and released over a dozen dry bean cultivars. Upon transfer to OSU, my program focus changed to vegetable breeding with snap bean being the main crop of interest. With snap beans, the breeding objectives include breeding bush blue lake green beans that have white mold resistance for the processing industry in the state. In addition to snap beans, we develop improved vegetable varieties for fresh marketwith the main focus being to support growers, gardeners, growers and processors in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). This region of the United States has a unique growing environment, and varieties developed elsewhere may not necessarily be optimally adapted to the PNW.

We have breeding programs on snap beans, snap peas, broccoli, tomatoes and cucurbits. My academic interests include breeding for disease resistance, enhanced human nutrition, and adaptation to organic production systems. We use a combination of traditional plant breeding techniques combined with genomics and bioinformatics tools.

Research

• Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC): Breeding and trialing vegetable varieties for organic systems across the northern tier of the U.S..

• Tomato Organic Management and Improvement (TOMI): breed fresh market slicer types widely adapted in the U.S. with multiple disease resistances and excellent flavor.

• Increase the availability of organically produced vegetable seed by identifying and breeding varieties adapted to organic systems.

• Engaging farmers and chefs in the breeding process through participatory plant breeding.

• Breed high anthocyanin tomatoes that have Breeding vegetables for improved human health potential, taste and quality.

• Breed broccoli adapted to mechanical harvest for the processing industry.

• Evaluating and selecting for disease resistance in vegetable crops such as edible podded peas, green beans and tomatoes.

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