Staff would be required to train the individuals, and also to clear the brush for access to accessions. For example, there are over 50,000 plants in the ground at Wolfskill.
3 Likes
I’ve no interest in tasting the fruit of rootstock.
4 Likes
@JohannsGarden How did you go about finding the Aronia in their collection? Were you just sampling a bunch of different varieties randomly or did something peak your interest in that particular one? Did you tour a facility?
Just curious what the experience was. Have you been able to propagate and share with other collectors? Just curious what the backstory is.
I hope nobody gets the wrong idea. I’m not “rooting for the wrecking ball” necessarily. I do think it would potentially be beneficial to have a private group preserving varieties regardless of outcome. I also think that a majority of the truly valuable old and obscure plant varieties could potentially be preserved in private hands with minimal overhead if there were an organization or network set up to do so. Perhaps such a network could even give more access to the public.
If I’m being honest, I don’t expect any serious permanent cuts at USDA. Between the fact ag industry is a republican sacred cow and the fact that the democrats will be quick to oppose anything attached to Trump, I doubt getting the votes in congress to permanently cut USDA functions would be possible. The biggest likely effect would probably be short term lack of availability.
1 Like
It is not tractable.
2 Likes
I don’t know about the other collections, but in Winters a lot of stuff isn’t labeled, for one thing.
Most of the accessions aren’t seedlings from experimental crosses, however. They’re more often clonal material or seedlings of fruit collected overseas, and while they may not be of good eating quality, they often represent the only genetic material we have of varieties from a certain geographic region. And because of that, they are a potential goldmine of traits that don’t exist in any of the modern varieties we grow. We really can’t know until someone goes and looks for those traits.
For example, in Winters there are several seedlings of Persian walnuts collected from the semi-wild trees growing in Yunnan. None of the commercial walnut varieties have ancestry from that part of the world. Being from a much warmer and wetter climate than Europe, these Chinese seedlings might have genes for resistance to walnut blight.
13 Likes
Ok. Other people might. As a cidermaker, my criteria are certainly broader for what makes a good apple. And like I said in my original comment, being able to look at the growth habit of the stock, and also see any disease susceptability in person could be valuable.
1 Like
It is hitting hard and fast. I got direct information from someone in ARS that all “probationary” employees are terminated. Everyone with less than 2 years service is gone with very very few exceptions. Seasonal workers will not be hired this year unless something changes drastically. Some tech and science positions have been terminated.
Doomsday plans are being made on ways to get germplasm out to places where it can be stored. Priority lists are being made where anything commonly available will be ignored, high potential breeding stock will be dispersed, regional or low potential material will be low man on the totem pole, and repository collected material (such as pecans from Mexico) will likely be somewhere in the middle. Some material can be transferred to universities but the universities don’t have funding for maintenance.
Has anyone else noticed that a bunch of USDA websites are not available? Word is going around that something massive took them down. https://pecan.usda.gov/
7 Likes
One of my other reasons for interest in East European apples is many have differing types of scab resistance. And their more unique root systems tend to tolerate root problems to a higher degree. Cold climate and periods of wet snow melt spawned traits?
2 Likes
If they train one person, then that person trains a few more, and each of those train a few more…
2 Likes
The websites were taken offline on purpose. A list was given to the administrators.
And the information on the terminations is correct. The notices went out yesterday. The facts that you don’t realize the magnitude of the layoffs unless you look for the information is scary. No body is worried unless it affects them directly.
6 Likes
You are absolutely correct. The germbanks have material from many geographic locations, trying to cover the genetic diversity of the species. Some of those varieties may even become extinct in their place of origin. If a new pathogen arrives, or climate variation makes the current cultivars less adapted, is from that genetics that we can find resistance genes.
I don’t work in the fruit tree locations, we have maize and soybeans at my location. To keep the seeds viable the cultivars need to be planted and fresh seed harvested every number of years. With as many inbred varieties as we have, that means a few acres of manual planting, crossing and harvesting of thousand of individual varieties every summer. Besides the tilling, all operations are manual. Keep taking people away and the operation will just not work.
10 Likes
Really? Do you realize how much simpler and easier plant varieties are to preserve than animals? And there is a very successful group privately coordinating the preservation of livestock breeds. Could every imaginable seedling be preserved? Probably not. Could the vast majority of useful varieties of fruit and rootstock be made more available? Absolutely.
2 Likes
I didn’t find it from touring their facilities. I found it by spending countless hours scouring their database looking for interesting specimens of various species. When I emailed the curator to inquire about it, he let me know about a second accession he thought was even better (another one that still hasn’t been picked up by any nursery). I ended up getting both, but the second “better” one hasn’t fruited for me yet so I have no first hand opinion to offer on it yet.
I have been propagating it and have started sharing some clones of it with friends and acquaintances to get it out there, but will also begin offering it through my nursery soon-ish.
10 Likes
Ana, don’t take this personal, but they are lying to you. Keep an ear out, you will likely hear more soon… perhaps it will be more accurate.
Who is lying to me? The administrator that got the list?
3 Likes
You are misunderstanding the scope.
The “useful” varieties for long term development of new breeds are rarely of interest to corporations. And yet, those accessions are the primary mission of the germplasm repositories.
3 Likes
I’m off, I need to get my head out of this for a bit. I can only tell you what we are experiencing personally on this location. I do know that the layoffs were across the board in all USDA. I do not know how other locations operate. I know that we have colleagues, friends that work hard everyday preserving the collections and conducting research to find solutions to crop problems that are now out of work or just waiting for the next round. Or wondering how they are going to keep the projects going without being able to hire help or buy supplies. I don’t want a political fight or people telling me how we deserve this. I am just passing information so you know what is happening and take steps to preserve these resources if they are of interest for you. Thank you for those who have written to your representatives.
12 Likes
It’s not enough to just have hobbyists go and raid the collections to preserve material. You would have to have people visiting the collections all through out the year to identify specimens to target for preservation since some are important for traits which can only be observed in narrow windows of time. Then what about the traits which can not be readily observed such as disease or pest resistances (which may or may not ever be observable at that location)? All you can find out by walking the locations in person is what is visibly obvious right on that day of your visit.
Additionally, not every specimen will be at its best in the location of each collection. You may have plants which don’t look worth saving, but if grown in a different location they might actually perform markedly differently and outperform individuals which looked good at the collection site. Sometimes, we don’t even have a clue what traits might be useful in certain accessions. We simply have them because they are known to be from under-represented locations and so have distinct genetics that may introduce novel traits if utilized in breeding.
9 Likes
Some of the others are from locations that no longer permit the transport of plant material outside their borders.
8 Likes
I was just on the USDA-GRIN website. Logged into my account. Picked up the information I needed with a series of searches