b'Function over fancy, in other words. ers at the United States Department of Hanna Raskin, a conference speakerAgriculture, helped the industry recover who publishes a popular South Carolinafrom the damage and forge ahead.newsletter called The Food Section, has written extensively about food, restau- Hard Workrants and culinary culture since 2006,Its that kind of passion, perseverance often focusing on the local food scene inand collaboration that showed why the Charleston.annual NAPB gathering has become such Watermelons, with their Southernan important one. George Washington roots intertwined with culture and tradi- Carver Scholar Gen Ha Park of the tion, become a living testament to theUniversity of California, Davis, hails wonders of plant breeding, she says.from Indonesia and lives with cerebral Watermelon has a history similar topalsy. For him, hard manual work is Gullah Geechee cuisine, having beenGen Ha Park is a student at the University ofnecessary for effective plant breeding.introduced to North America throughCalifornia, Davis. He attended this years NAPBControlling my muscle movement is the efforts of enslaved African people,meeting as a George Washington Carvernot natural as for others, which impairs who played a pivotal role in dispers- scholar.my ability to walk. But it doesnt stop ing watermelon seeds across the easternfor me from pursuing a degree in plant regions of the continent.breeding. Im still able to walk through-Its hard to deny that everyone lovesout the field, and, you know, screen all watermelon; its always a hit. Its prob- my plantsbut I have to work, like, 10 ably on par with barbecue when it comestimes harder than others, he says.to popular food choices in the South,His disability has taught him to rely Raskin said. on his colleagues for help, which he says Raskin underlines the cardinal virtuestrengthens the cohesion of his team.of honouring consumer preferences andInstead of working on my own, I palates. She encourages plant breederslike to have my colleagues work with me. to delve into the boundless tapestry ofSo that reduces the likelihood of being taste and welcome the willingness ofdiscouraged and saying, Hey, why am consumers to embrace novel flavours andI doing this when I could be sitting in textures.the office? Looking at your plants in the Weve found that consumers willfield is a must, and I feel like theres no tolerate more than we think; people areway around it, he says.braver and more adventurous than some- To be a professional plant breeder, times the industry believes. Ksenija Gasic shows off some of this yearsI need to deal with it head-on. That Of course, consumers still do havepeach harvest during a tour of Clemsonmotivation sort of pushed me and drove their preferences, and nowhere is thisUniversitys peach orchards near Greenville. me to where I am today. With the help more prevalent than in the peachof others, with the encouragement of industry, where huge amounts of workothers, and self-discipline, I think thats go into bringing the beloved fruit Gasics program is working on newwhat helped me get here.native to China and first introduced tovarieties adapted to a changing climate,Here is working on his grad studies North America in the 1500s by Spanishto ensure South Carolina can continueat Davis, where he studies under the monksto consumer tables across theto ship the over 200 million pounds ofsupervision of Allen Van Deynze. After continent. peaches it grows every year. Thats morecompleting his degree, he plans to return In 2008, Ksenija Gasic launchedthan three times the amount harvestedto Indonesia to help his dad run his fam-a pioneering peach breeding initiativein Georgia in a typical year. ilys business, Oriental Seed. at Clemson University, prompted byBut climate change isnt the only challenges such as spring frost that werechallenge peaches have faced over the impeding the local industrys growth.years. Peach tree short life disease, Gasics program aimed to revitalize thecaused by a destructive nematode, sector.caused severe damage to the states Adapting to the changing climatepeach trees in the 1980s and 1990s. TheThe NAPB includes a small Canadian component conditions that affected peach produc- development of the Guardian root- among its diverse membership of public and tion, Gasics program aimed to developstock, developed with the help of peopleprivate sector scientists working to improve a wide variety of plants and graduate students working peach cultivars with reduced chillinglike Clemson University horticulturetowards advanced degrees in plant breeding. Visit requirements.professor Greg Reighard and research- plantbreeding.org for more info!24GERMINATION.CASEPTEMBER 2023'