Ep. 79 Evolutionary Breeding in Australia – Gregg Muller, Useful Seeds

Gregg Muller operates Useful Seeds out of Bendigo, Australia. His seed journey began when Carol Deppe's writing inspired him to start breeding colorful snowpeas right in his own yard. This home-scale plant breeding effort quickly expanded into many different breeding projects and running a small seed company.

In this episode, Gregg shares how his breeding work has shifted from selecting for specific traits to developing resilient landraces tuned for local adaptation. We discuss the logistics, challenges, and opportunities behind grassroots seed distribution and community-based breeding. Gregg also highlights some of his breeding projects, including red-podded peas and compact, drought-tolerant butternut pumpkins.

In the deep dive, Gregg and I explore growing fava beans (broadbeans) for seed. Gregg tackles the challenge of selecting for culinary traits within a diverse genetic mix sourced from global gene banks. He explains his practical approach to breeding for multi-use value from tender green shoots and edible baby pods to rehydratable dry beans, not to mention beautiful flowers. And we get into threshing and winnowing favas too.

Enjoy the conversation!

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Episode links

Useful Seeds website
https://www.usefulseeds.com/

Useful Seeds on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/useful_seeds/

 

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News links

Thursday Aug 20 at 7pm Eastern
Seed Growers Open House Call
https://seedalliance.org/osa-quarterly-calls/

 

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