James Myers

We develop improved vegetable varieties with the main focus being to support 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.

• Breeding and trialing vegetable varieties for organic systems.
• 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.
• Breeding vegetables for improved human health, taste and quality.
• Evaluating and selecting for disease resistance in vegetable crops.

https://plantbreeding.oregonstate.edu/users/james-myers