20245130043049

Buckwheat, both common and Tartary, is an under-utilized crop ideally suited for organic systems with strong potential to address critical societal issues, including access to nutrition, diversifying diets, mitigating climate change, and adaptation to low-input agricultural environments, including use in no-till and dry-farming systems.

Today, many organic growers utilize buckwheat as a soil building, weed suppressive cover crop, and although cover crops are valued as important parts of the organic systems plan, they represent an opportunity cost for growers.

Recently, demand in the US for CBW and TBW has grown as both species offer a highly nutritious, gluten-free alternative to cereal grains, and an opportunity to revive culturally significant cuisines and heritage food crops.

However, very few commercially available varieties of CBW exist, and we are not aware of any previous efforts on TBW improvement in the US.

Thus, growers rely on seed labeled as common buckwheat, Tartary buckwheat, or variety non-specific without knowledge of the agronomic or food-value qualities of the seed source.

Our project will help address the gap in access to diversity in seed options while optimizing agronomic practices and building markets to expand organic buckwheat production in the US.

The More Bang for Your Buckwheat project will expand organic farmers' and food businesses' access to a diversity of varieties of CBW and TBW well-suited to varied climates and markets with improved agronomic and food-value qualities.

Research activities will advance our understanding of how best to leverage the crop potential for ecosystem services including insights into the genetic, agronomic, and environmental effects on soil health, soil aggregate stability, weed suppression, and pollinator habitat.

Nutritional analysis will inform breeding strategies to optimize nutritional value for organic food products.

Outreach activities and a farmer-participatory approach to plant breeding will increase farmers' uptake of optimum varieties and knowledge of agronomic management of the crop, ultimately improving the ecological health, productivity, and economic viability of organic farms.

A value-chain, or push-pull approach, to outreach through events and promotional campaigns will build market awareness and demand ensuring ready uptake of expanded production of high-quality organic buckwheat.

The diversity of stakeholders engaged in outreach along the supply chain will concomitantly build organic buckwheat production and markets.

Market development efforts will strengthen stakeholder relationships from field to market by engaging farmers, processors, chefs, and school foods programs.

Extension and related outreach activities will include field day/buckwheat festivals on farms and research stations, development of promotional materials and marketing campaigns, point of sale product promotion at restaurants, farmers markets, organic stores, and schools, and showcasing buckwheat at three culinary breeding network variety showcase events.

Value chain coordination will engage participation in outreach activities among all project partners and advisors.

Outreach activities will build organic buckwheat market opportunities for farmers of all scales and increase buckwheat uptake by diverse buyers and eaters.

Washington State University

NOT APPLICABLE

10.307 - Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative

Institute of Food Production and Sustainability (IFPS) [USDA - NIFA]

Pullman, Washington 99164-0001 United States

Single Zip Code

Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (USDA-NIFA-ICGP-010314)