32 / SEEDWORLD.COM FEBRUARY 2019 select for in a breeding project. If you remove those constraints — not worry so much about size or shape or shelf life — you’re free to focus on other things, like flavor.” That philosophy has led to the creation of Row 7 Seeds, a partnership between Mazourek, seedsman Matthew Goldfarb and chef Dan Barber (author of “The Third Plate”), which bills itself as “a seed company built by chefs and breeders striving to make ingredients taste better before they ever hit a plate.” Seven years ago, Barber challenged Mazourek to build a better butternut squash. For Mazourek, it was the first time that someone had asked him to breed for flavor. For Barber, it was the discovery of a new kind of recipe — one that begins with the seed. New Tools Mazourek is active in the Cucurbit Coordinated Agricultural Project (CucCAP), which was a big focus of Cucurbitaceae 2018. The CucCAP is a U.S. group that works to leverage applied genomics to increase disease resistance in cucurbit crops. Most recently, CucCAP research identified a cucumber gene for resistances to downy mildew, angular leaf spot and anthracnose. The CucCAP involves 21 different research groups working to improve disease resistance in watermelon, melon, cucumber and squash using the latest tools. They do this by scouring the globe for germplasm that contains disease resistance that can be used to breed new varieties that producers want to grow and consumers want to eat. “One thing that new genomic tools can help us do is identify regions of the genome that have the genes with resist- ance and make use of those regions, and not the others with traits we don’t want,” said Rebecca Grumet, horticulture profes- sor at Michigan State University and the CucCAP’s lead researcher. The CucCAP is also helping get cucur- bit disease information out to people in the wider community. Angela Linares, associate director of the Department of Agro-Environmental Sciences at University of Puerto Rico, has translated a number of CucCAP fact sheets into Spanish, an effort she says will help bolster food security on the Caribbean island of 3.3 million people and elsewhere in the United States. “The CucCAP presents a unique opportunity to reach other communities, not only farmers but also employees, students or anyone else who wants to learn about cucurbits,” Linares said. The cucurbit community at large is no stranger to reaching out in order to solve problems and create improved varie- ties, noted Allen Van Deynze, director of research at the University of California, Davis, Seed Biotechnology Center and an organizer of Cucurbitaceae 2018. “We are a mixture of geneticists, plant breeders, pathologists, agronomists and so on. It’s quite an international com- munity,” he said. “There’s a lot of poten- tial. Cucurbits are really a young crop breeding-wise. “When I grew up there were three melons you could get: watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe. That was it. The genetic diversity within each of these is incredible, and it’s untapped. If you travel around the world, it’s like, ‘Whoa, this tastes fantastic. Why isn’t this on my shelf?’” Vegetable seed company HM.Clause, a major sponsor of Cucurbitaceae 2018, Walmart’s Victor Verlage addresses attendees of Cucurbitaceae 2018 in Davis, Calif. From left: Matthew Goldfarb, Michael Mazourek and chef Dan Barber are the founders of Row 7 Seeds. Rebecca Grumet is a horticulture professor at Michigan State University.