April 2009 Archives

If you work with G2, you will realize rather quickly that we are fairly wide open.  We have opinions, and we'll let you know them.  We mean no offense.  You are hiring us to work on your projects with you.  We feel that we owe you our best effort, and that includes ... letting you know what we think.

As we attempt to develop a sustainable research greenhouse, we obviously have to make compromises, especially where pest/pathogen control and nutrient requirements are concerned.  But the process --- how we make our decisions --- is always with sustainability in mind.  Yes, we temper that vision with a farmer's pragmatism.  But we all know the vision, and diligently pursue it. 

For instance, the air entering G2's 20,000 SF greenhouse passes through a fine screen designed to exclude pests as small as western flower thrips.  This design feature minimizes the impact of seasonal insect pests within the greenhouses.  However if you have ever worked within an insect-screened greenhouse, even screens are not perfect.

Furthermore, we frequently bring in plants from the outside (either by purchase or selections from our breeding programs).  No matter how thoroughly we sanitize these specimens, we invariably bring in small populations of pests, either on the plant material or in the media.  Yes, we re-pot.  Yes, we attempt to sanitize cuttings.  No, this is not a perfect solution, either. 

We do not attempt to maintain a sterile facility, only a reasonably clean one.  And again, since we are working from a clean slate, visitors to G2's research greenhouses are invariably impressed with the levels of cleanliness. 

G2's greenhouses are also heated through the floor.  Warm floors generally mean dry floors, and dry floors tend to stay cleaner, longer. 

Our greenhouse water (a topic on which there will be multiple posts) is sanitized by the addition of small amounts of a chlorine-containing acid (hypochlorous acid --- brand name H2Oxide).  Think of H2Oxide as a type of chlorine bleach, in a low-level formulation which is not phytotoxic to plants.  In our experience, it works effectively.  We still occasionally have minor algae and biofilm accumulations, but these are controllable.  Is H2Oxide an organic-certified treatment?  No.  We choose to use it because we concluded that it is the solution with the least environmental impact and the best performance.  If we can minimize the growth of biofilms and algae on the floors, and in the cooling systems, we can minimize the need to use more aggressive insecticides for pests like shore flies and fungus gnats. 

Sustainable is not simple in a research greenhouse.  We are proud of our efforts.  We will continue to get better.  We will continue to share our efforts with you. 

G2 is in the luxurious position --- perhaps even the enviable position --- of working from a blank slate.  As we develop our research farm and greenhouse facility, we are able to look to the future, and plan to continuously develop and improve our sustainability programs. 

Over the next few weeks, we intend to describe in this blog what G2 is attempting to do re sustainability.  Some of the posts will describe what we have already done.  Some will describe what we are planning to do.  Some will discuss ideas that we intend to implement when it becomes possible.  In some cases, technology is not quite appropriate for implementation today.  In some cases, the technology is available, but the cost --- whether actual or tax-incentivized --- remains higher than we choose to afford. 

But it is truly a joy to be working from a blank slate.  When we acquired the small farm we are developing into G2's research farm, it was a little over 20 acres of restored corn (maize) fields.  A little more than a decade before we acquired the farm in 2006, the corn fields were converted to an organic market garden and pasture.  Fields were sown in grasses and legumes.  Sheep and poultry were pastured on much of the farm.  A limited acreage of market gardens (including strawberries, raspberries, and grapes) were planted.  All of the converted field space was managed to strict organic standards, but the land was never formally certified.  Organic certification in the mid-1990s was not very clearly defined, organic standards were still in development, and our predecessors as stewards of this land were in start-up mode.  The cost of establishing and maintaining certification was considered high. 

We respect that decision. 

As we develop the landscape; as we continue to install research plots on the converted organic fields; as we build additional greenhouses and high tunnels --- as we move G2's research farm into the future --- we will continue to respect the effort that has already occurred on our farm.  We practice sustainable agriculture to the best of our understanding.  We will certify a portion of the field plots so that we can conduct breeding and research on ground which is managed under true organic certification.  We will always consider the impact of our presence on the local ecosystems; the local groundwater; and the soils on which we farm.

We hope that you will share in our journey.

One of the many ways in which G2 serves the horticultural industries is that we provide technology assistance to other independent plant breeders. 

When we say technology assistance, we are referring to using state-of-the-art modern technology to help a plant breeder make genetic progress.  Imagine that you have successfully made an interspecific hybrid, and that the hybrid is sterile.  An apparent genetic dead-end.  G2 may be able to help you induce fertility in that hybrid, and enable you to continue to breed with that plant as a parent. 

Then again, we may have no more success than you did.  But if your sterile hybrid is nearing the end of its protected life, and your stream of licensing revenue is about to end, it might be worth the investment to at least explore further breeding opportunities. 

We may be able to assist you in making additional interspecific hybrids.  Or to induce polyploidy.  Or to induce mutations of value.  All of these skills are in the G2 toolbox.  We would be pleased to discuss the real opportunities with you.

Yes, we are willing to do this even though we may appear to be be competitors.  We do this even when we may have competing products in development. 

How can this work?

First of all, once we have a mutual non-disclosure in place, we will be able to tell you where our projects may be in conflict.  It is our commitment to our clients that we will not compete with them on a project-to-project basis.  If you ask us to conduct a product development project on a particular species to fill a specific market niche, we will agree to do so only if we are not conducting a parallel proprietary project. 

Neither will we conduct parallel projects for multiple clients.  Even though we are comfortable with the concept, and believe that we could successfully run multiple parallel projects for multiple clients in full confidentiality --- we have chosen not to do so.  This will make life simpler for all of us. 

Are we limiting our future?  Not unless we overbook our capacity.  Our goal is to have contract research (CR) occupy about half of our operational capacity.  Even as we add additional capacity, we intend to limit the CR portion to 50 percent.  That puts a cap on the number of projects we can run simultaneously, even as we add capacity.  The simple solution is to not work in the same market niche for more than one client.