The Food Systems Research Center is excited to announce Eric von Wettberg, Associate Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences, and Heather Darby, Professor of Extension as the awardees of our or Gene x Environment x Management (GEM) grants. The interactions between crop genetics, the environment and management practices – known as GEM interactions – are critical to understanding animal and crop diversity and can have a direct link on human nutrition. A true lab to fork project, Darby and von Wettberg’s projects involve ̽̽ researchers Jana Kraft, Daniel Tobin, and Roy Desrochers, as well as other collaborators at ̽̽ and beyond.
Darby and von Wettberg’s research aims to gain knowledge on crops that are culturally significant to indigenous communities native to the Northeast. Working with local members of the indigenous community, von Wettberg will focus on beans, while Darby will focus on corn. GEM interactions are found throughout biology, yet little attention has been given to this topic until recently with the U.S. Department of Agriculture making significant investments in studying these interactions. Studying how genetics, the environment, and management styles affect crops will be critical to making food systems more sustainable, just, and regenerative.
Corn and beans are natural partners as they are commonly grown together, along with squash, as a trio commonly known as the three sisters or milpa. Corn provides an upright structure up which pole beans can climb. Beans provide nitrogen fertility to the other corn and squash. Growing adequate amounts of food while also being sustainable has become a focus on regenerative agricultural practices—something both Darby’s and von Wettberg’s projects will seek to address. Investigating how GEM interactions influence heritage varieties of these crops, including their nutritional profiles, is an important piece of the researchers’ projects and will contribute important knowledge to the field of sustainable agriculture.
Darby’s and von Wettberg’s work will involve the , the non-profit, , , and other community partners. Members of ôɾ, a nonprofit organization that includes inter-tribal indigenous citizens, friends, and allies and that translates as “in the Abenaki way” said they are excited to learn more about these heritage crops and hope this can help expand the ôɾ heritage garden and revitalize traditional production methodologies. Ujamaa Seeds, a BIPOC seed cooperative with whom co-PI Daniel Tobin leads a Research and Education Novel Approaches project, is interested incorporating a better understanding of how genetics, environment, and management interact into their efforts to breed more nutritious and disease resistant cultivars of culturally meaningful beans and corn.
When it comes to food systems, von Wettberg and Darby see the genetic, environment, and management interaction as central to answering the most critical questions in food systems. But they also acknowledge the role this work can play in increasing knowledge of traditional plants grown by the indigenous peoples of North America. When asked what he hopes to get out of this project, von Wettberg said, “If this work helps support efforts to preserve indigenous crop varieties and the people who grow and care for them, then I am happy.”
