Canadian Organic Vegetable Improvement (CANOVI)

Canadian Organic Vegetable Improvement (CANOVI)

Growing collaborations for vegetable crop research in Canada

Project Leads

Dr. Ambar Carvallo Lopez (Postdoctoral Fellow and Project Lead), UBC

Chris Thoreau, agrologist (Temporary)

Dr. Loren Rieseberg (Crop genomics and pre-breeding), UBC (PI)

Project Team

Dr. Marney Isaac, University of Toronto Scarborough, ON

Dr. Hannah Wittman, University of British Columbia, BC

Dr. Micaela Colley, Organic Seed Alliance

Dr. Phil Simon, USDA

Funding

This research is supported by the AgriScience Program under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership and Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security as part of Organic Science Cluster 4.

About the Project

Photo of Solveig Hanson in the greenhouse.

Dr. Solveig Hanson in the greenhouse

Canadian Organic Vegetable Improvement (CANOVI) is a collaborative project initiated in 2018 by the UBC Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, and the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security.

CANOVI aims to contribute to the resilience and growth of Canada’s organic vegetable sector through the characterization and development of certain varieties that excel in Canadian organic farming systems. The CANOVI team works with regional farming organizations to coordinate on-farm variety trials where farmers generate and share data about regional variety performance. This project provides farmers with relevant information on commercial variety performance, and data from the on-farm trials contribute to a broader understanding of crop-environment interactions. Since 2018, over 100 farmers have evaluated over 50 vegetable varieties, including bell peppers, radicchio, rutabaga, and lettuce varieties. SeedLinked variety trial software (https://www.seedlinked.com/) has been used to collect variety performance evaluation data from farmers across Canada, as well as provide farmers real-time access to such information.

An introduction to CANOVI with Chris Thoreau and Aabir Dey

CANOVI also aims to enhance carrot resilience to abiotic stress through both genomic and functional ecological approaches. The key genetic controls that enhance carrot tolerance to challenging environmental conditions will be incorporated in the breeding program at UBC. Meanwhile, CANOVI supports participatory plant breeding projects that leverage farmer variety trial input for breeding decisions. These include:

  • 1) selection of a long-storing orange Nantes-type carrot with excellent flavour and early vigor;
  • 2) selection of multi-coloured carrot lines suitable for east coast and west coast growing conditions;
  • 3) farmer-initiated breeding and commercialization of specialty purple bok choy with bolt resistance to heat.

These projects represent collaboration among universities, NGOs, and farmer groups to facilitate decentralized plant breeding approaches that address regional and crop-specific gaps in seed systems for sustainable agriculture.

The UBC Farm serves as a field site for CANOVI vegetable variety trials and participatory carrot breeding, as well as a host site for field days.

Publications

Rolhauser, A. G., Windfeld, E., Hanson, S., Wittman, H., Thoreau, C., Lyon, A., & Isaac, M. E. (2022). A trait–environment relationship approach to participatory plant breeding for organic agriculture. New Phytologist, 235(3), 1018–1031. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18203

Thoreau, C. (2021). Opportunities and constraints to seed sovereignty for organic vegetable farmers in British Columbia (T). University of British Columbia. Retrieved from https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0406191

Nawaz, S, et al. 2020. Tensions at the boundary: Rearticulating ‘organic’ plant breeding in the age of gene editing. Elem Sci Anth, 8: 34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.429

Lyon, Alexandra, William Tracy, Micaela Colley, Patrick Culbert, Michael Mazourek, James Myers, Jared Zystro, and Erin M. Silva. 2020. “Adaptability Analysis in a Participatory Variety Trial of Organic Vegetable Crops.” Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 35 (3). Cambridge University Press: 296–312. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170518000583

Isaac, M.E., Martin, A.R. Accumulating crop functional trait data with citizen science. Sci Rep 9, 15715 (2019) doi:10.1038/s41598-019-51927-x

Lyon, A., Friedmann, H., Wittman, H. 2021. Can public universities play a role in fostering seed sovereignty? Elem Sci Anth, 9: 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00089

External Links

Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security
LFS Reach Out Magazine Feature
Webinar: Breeding Carrots for Production, Resilience, Flavour, and Fun in Organic Systems