Cornell scientists breed vegetables for our changing environment
Mazourek and his team breed plants using cross-pollination, something bees do naturally in the garden, but he does "with more guidance, more direction." They then combine the strengths of different vegetables to get the best of each, aiming to help crops resist diseases and make them better able to withstand changing climates. The Cornell team plants hundreds of the experimental crosses each summer and keeps seeds from the best-of-the-best in a cataloged library, which lets Mazourek look back at the evolution of each harvest to understand the changes, adapt different plants and create forward progress.
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