SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Cabbage is an accessible and affordable storage vegetable crop that is ideally adapted to NY state growing conditions, and a crop in which NY growers lead the world. This New York Farm Viability Institute project, led by plant breeder Phillip Griffiths at Cornell University, will capitalize on two decades of work that has resulted in the development of cabbage breeding lines that are resistant to black rot and range in color from light pink through to deep purple. His work has shown that when green and pink/red/purple cabbage lines are combined, they generate a light through dark pink or rosé cabbage that typically has green outer leaves and an attractive pink interior flesh (almost like a watermelon) that is more tender, like a green cabbage. This project will trial and further develop these varieties, seek consumer insights on the product at New York City greenmarkets, and if successful provide growers significant new market opportunities. With improved black rot resistance these cabbage varieties can also be grown with fewer chemical inputs.
The New York Farm Viability Institute runs a competitive grant program that seeks to create and share knowledge. This project is one of 17 that were funded in our most recent grant round. To learn more about the organization and other work it has supported, please visit www.nyfvi.org.
–New York Farm Viability Institute