Join the Bean Breeding group for a talk by a visiting agronomist.

Monday June 9, 2014
9:30am
202 Crop Science Bldg., University of Guelph

Marvin Gomez is a Honduran agronomist and a leader in Participatory Plant Breeding in Central America.

For the past 10 years he has worked with the Honduran NGO, Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers (FIPAH), which partners with local farmer researchers to develop maize and bean varieties for poor hillside farmers.  FIPAH works extensively with breeders at the Pan American Agricultural School, Zamorano, and at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). FIPAH’s work is to support local farmers by training them to cross landraces with breeder materials and to provide farmers with access to unreleased breeder materials through participatory varietal selection.   Some of these farmer selected/generated materials have already been released at the national level in Honduras and others are in the pipeline for release. FIPAH, long supported by Sally Humphries, University of Guelph, is recognized in Central America as a leader in the field of participatory plant breeding by both scientists and civil society organizations alike.