Features Production Vegetables
Researchers examine plant grafting

“Breeding varieties tailored to organic production is a way to try to solve these problems but it’s a long-term solution,” says David Francis, a geneticist with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and leader of the grafting research project. “What we want to do is demonstrate the feasibility of grafting as a compatible strategy, one which is likely to have a high impact in the short term.”

The researchers plan to use tomato as the model crop for studying the propagation method’s viability in North America. Specific goals of the study include developing, testing and selecting rootstocks that improve fruit yield and quality plus developing an outreach program to teach growers grafting techniques, ultimately facilitating the creation of a domestic source of grafted vegetable transplants.
Input is currently being sought and compiled from vegetable farmers interested in how grafting can help in their operations.