This podcast is for anyone interested in the plants we eat - farmers, gardeners, and food-curious folks who want to dig deeper into where their food comes from. It’s about how new crop varieties make it into your seed catalogues and onto your tables. In each episode, we hear the story of a variety that has been pledged as open-source from the plant breeder that developed it. You can subscribe and listen on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Release date: December 18, 2019

In this episode, we’ll be talking about carrot breeding in general, and two breeding projects in particular. First, Dr. Claire Luby and Dr. Irwin Goldman will tell us about the Open Source Seed Initiative-pledged carrot breeding populations that they’ve developed at University of Wisconsin-Madison. They’ll explain how the UW-Madison Goldman Lab is able to speed up the seed production process to fit it into one single year using greenhouses and vernalization chambers.

Then we’ll hear from Petra Page-Mann about the project to develop ‘Dulcinea’, a new variety offered by Fruition Seeds, which Irwin and Claire have collaborated on. And all three of our guests will weigh in on the basic steps of any carrot breeding project.

Release date: November 18, 2019

In this episode, host Rachel Hultengren talks with Jonathan Spero of Lupine Knoll Farm about ‘Festivity’, an open-pollinated multi-colored sweet corn that he developed.

Release date: November 6, 2019

In this episode, host Rachel Hultengren talks with David Podoll of Prairie Road Organic Farm about ‘Dakota Tears’, an open-pollinated yellow-skinned, firm-fleshed storage onion that he developed.

Release date: October 21, 2019

In this episode, host Rachel Hultengren talks with Edmund Frost of Twin Oaks Seed Farm and Common Wealth Seed Growers about ‘South Anna Butternut’, a downy-mildew resistant winter squash that he developed.

Release date: March 20, 2019

In this episode, host Rachel Hultengren talks with Patrina Nuske Small and Craig LeHoullier about the Dwarf Tomato Project, a collaborative, all-volunteer tomato breeding project. We discuss how the project came about, the benefits and challenges of having an all-volunteer team, and the pleasant surprises of plant breeding.

Release date: March 7, 2019

In this episode, host Rachel Hultengren speaks with Bill Whitson of Cultivare about ‘Rozette’, a new potato variety that Bill developed and pledged as open-source.

Release date: Feb. 14, 2019

In this episode, host Rachel Hultengren speaks with Joseph Lofthouse about his process of landrace breeding to develop varieties locally-adapted to the harsh conditions of his farm in northern Utah, and about the ‘Lofthouse-Oliverson Landrace Muskmelon’, a variety that came out of that breeding work.

Release date: Jan. 22, 2019

In this episode, host Rachel Hultengren spoke with Andrew Still of Adaptive Seeds and the Seed Ambassadors Project about his work in seed-saving, open-pollinated variety maintenance and the process of what he refers to as ‘dehybridization’. Their conversation focuses on ‘Gypsy Queens’, a variety of pepper that Andrew developed and pledged to be open-source.

Release date: Dec. 6, 2018

This episode is a little different from the previous episodes; instead of a moderately uniform, finished variety, Rachel talks with Don Tipping of Seven Seeds Farm about a diverse spinach population that he has pledged to be open-source. ‘Popeye’, which is available through Don’s seed company, Siskiyou Seeds, has been selected for traits that are important to farmers in southern Oregon, where Don’s farm is located. In addition to the details of the breeding work behind ‘Popeye’, Don shared his thoughts on broader topics relevant to the future agricultural system to which he hopes to contribute.

Release date: Nov. 17, 2018

Rachel talks with Frank Morton of Shoulder to Shoulder Farm about his lettuce variety, ‘Hyper Red Rumple Waved’, and about his journey in breeding lettuce, from salad to seed. Frank and his wife Karen are the originators of Wild Garden Seed, a farm-based organic seed company based in the Pacific Northwest, and Frank has pledged as open-source not only ‘Hyper Red Rumple Waved’, but all of the varieties and breeding populations that he has developed.

Release date: Sept. 29, 2018

In this second installment of the Free the Seed! podcast, host Rachel Hultengren interviews Dr. Claire Luby and Dr. Irwin Goldman, two of the co-founders of the Open Source Seed Initiative.

They discuss the importance of genetic diversity in plant breeding, the evolution of intellectual property rights as they apply to plants, and the efforts of the Open Source Seed Initiative to maintain fair and open access to plant genetic resources. Dr. Irwin Goldman is a faculty member in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has taught and led research in plant breeding for the past 26 years. His breeding program focuses on carrot, onion, and table beet. Dr. Claire Luby conducted her PhD research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Goldman Lab, and was the first Executive Director of the Open Source Seed Initiative.

Release date: Sept. 27, 2018

In this episode, host Rachel Hultengren talks with Dr. Carol Deppe about her OSSI-pledged variety ‘Goldini Zucchini’. Oregon plant breeder Carol Deppe holds a PhD in Genetics from Harvard University, and focuses on developing superbly flavorful, organic-adapted, open-source crops for human survival for the next thousand years, and in teaching others to do the same.