Alma, Arkansas, USA
November 13, 2009
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| IN MEMORY – University of Arkansas horticulture department head David Hensley with Leslie and Hailey Roye of Greenland, daughter and granddaughter of the late University Professor Teddy Morelock at the T.E. Morelock International Spinach Conference Wednesday, named in memory of the vegetable plant breeder who died in April 2009. |
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FIELD EXPERIMENTS – Teddy Morelock, center, shows field experiments at the Vegetable Research Station near Alma during a previous International Spinach Conference hosted by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
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Executives and researchers from companies that grow much of the world’s spinach attended the International Spinach Conference Wednesday and Thursday, hosted by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture at its Vegetable Research Station south of Alma and on the university campus in Fayetteville.
The conference included presentations by university and industry scientists from six states and The Netherlands. The conference was dedicated to the memory of University Professor Teddy Morelock, who directed the U of A Division of Agriculture’s vegetable plant breeding program from 1974 until his death April 18, 2009.
David Hensley, head of the university’s horticulture department, said most of the spinach grown in the United States has genetic traits developed by Morelock and colleagues, including resistance to some of the worst plant diseases of spinach.
Dennis Motes, director of the Vegetable Research Station, which is south of Alma near the Arkansas River, said field experiments there include evaluation of spinach varieties and breeding lines along with management practices for disease pathogens, insect pests and weeds and other production issues.
Jim Correll, professor of plant pathology, conducts field and laboratory research to characterize the genetic and molecular diversity of pathogens and the epidemiology of disease development.
Correll said ongoing research is required to continue to develop disease-resistant varieties because pathogens can develop new “races” that can overcome existing genetic resistance in a variety. If a variety is genetically resistant to a fungus, it can be grown without fungicide applications to protect it from that pathogen.
Allen’s Inc., based in Siloam Springs, long known for its Popeye brand of frozen and canned spinach, is one of the leading producers of spinach and other frozen and canned vegetable products.
Jay Schafer of Mt. Vernon, Wash., who advises spinach growers, said consumption of fresh spinach has increased dramatically since the 1970s, while it has been stable for frozen spinach and declined for canned spinach. Consumption of all types since the ’70s has increased from about one-fourth of a pound to 2.5 pounds per person annually, he said.
Current trends for spinach and other produce are growing demand for organic and locally grown products, Schafer said. He said growers can reap large profits from a relatively small acreage of spinach, but the risks, such as losing an entire crop to plant diseases, are also very high.
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