28 / SEEDWORLD.COM INTERNATIONAL EDITION 2026 “They care about taste, color and texture. If you don’t include people in the process, if you don’t improve the crop together with them, then the rate of adoption is limited. People won’t want it,” he says. “For example, in Uganda, several organizations are promot ing orange corn, which is more nutritious. But people love white corn. That’s what they eat, and the whiter the better,” Mujjabi laughs. “So yes, you can introduce something new and nutri tious, but if you don’t take into account the cultural connections people have to their food, adoption will be very limited.” Bohn says this is where public breeding research truly shines, rather than competing with big companies who spend millions of dollars on research. "We are not developing hybrids for conventional producers in Illinois, Iowa, or Indiana, but for organic farmers in the Midwest, who are typically not served by the larger breeding companies,” Bohn says. In fact, he recognizes the concern that with the high selection intensity in yellow dent corn, breeders might run out of genetic variation, especially when working under the constraints of today’s trend toward proprietary hybrids. Jeffrey Block, organic seed division manager at Gro Alliance, LLC, works with seed companies throughout the industry as an expert on corn and soybean seed production. He’s seen a signifi cant shift away from public germplasm-based breeding. “In the last decade or two, the pendulum has really swung toward intellectual property rights, and we need to swing back some to the open pollinated side of things,” Block says. “We need to invest in public seed breeding and seed banks to make sure those genetic resources are available.” He believes that too much focus on patents and other propri etary protections is ultimately going to make the industry more vulnerable, especially as farmers face climate change and other challenging growing conditions. “As agriculture is changing, there has to be new develop ment. Intellectual property rights in relation to germplasm are great for business because they provide a profit mechanism and are a boom for the companies that own the seed, but they stifle innovation because of a limited pool of genetic backgrounds,” Block says. He points to agricultural crises throughout the years as evi dence to why governments and organizations must continue to prioritize seed bank funding. “The loss of genetic diversity makes all agricultural systems far more vulnerable,” he says, referencing stories of mono crop failures such as the potato famine and the heavily-used Cavendish banana variety. “Breeders need accessible genetic resources to find novel traits such as new sources of disease resistance,” Block says. From Specialty Seeds to Global Impact Preserving and using diverse germplasm also allows for unique success stories. “There are dozens of OPVs kept alive by hobby breeders, seed saving communities and farmers who improve them over time for smaller projects such as whiskey production or specialty grits and things like that,” Bohn says. The success of using Kitale Synthetic II in Illinois has also shown that breeders can find success in serving those niche markets. “These Kitale-based varieties are significant for the African diaspora, but this type of waxy white corn can also be used for other purposes,” Ugarte says. “Many other cultures want access to a variety like this, and it could add to the variety of hybrid offerings that farmers might consider producing.” Block agrees that crop breeding for niche markets offers interesting and important opportunities. “Small breeders and independent farmers who are innovating are really helping a whole group of people who otherwise would be left out. A big company wouldn’t have touched this,” Block says. And that’s part of why the Kasooli Party was so exciting. It’s rare that a chance find can serve a specialty community and provide solutions that could impact larger-scale production. Kitale-based varieties may bridge the gap from historic improve ments in Africa to advances in organic breeding here in the Midwest. With continuing research, Bohn believes it’s possible that the program could help increase yields and decrease inputs in organic corn production. “We are so close to developing some other really good varie ties for farmer consideration,” Bohn says. “And this white corn? It’s really good.” SW “The loss of genetic diversity makes all agricultural systems far more vulnerable.” —Jeffrey Block
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