Participatory Tomato Breeding As An Approach To Strengthening Regional Value Chains In Lower Saxony

The article focuses on the breeding of a tomato variety of high quality and taste in a participation process with actors in the value chain in Lower Saxony carried out by the University of Applied Science of Osnabruck. The population of Lower Saxony, comprising around 8 million consumers, consumes approximately 8,1 kg of fresh tomatoes per person per year. The starting point of this research was the finding that, given the Lower Saxony harvest of 8,300 t per year, the Lower Saxony population can only be self-sufficient to 12,8 % with regional fresh tomatoes - even though a very high value is placed on regionality, especially with fresh vegetables. It is astonishing that this has not changed significantly in recent years, either initiated by the trade or by the tomato-growers. Thus, a fundamental thesis of the research project is that structural innovations are required within the value creation process. These innovations can affect the tomato or the seed as well as the form of cooperation in the value creation process. Following on from the approach of "value added partnerships", a network of actors along the value chain was built up using participatory instruments. The need for a tomato variety of high quality and taste that is suitable for regional sale in Lower Saxony was determined. The different requirements of the various sales channels (referred to as direct sale, indirect sale and a mixture of these) were included and for the selection of the breeding-lines, a criteria catalog drawn up together with the actors was used. At the same time, cultivation trials of the breeding lines on the farms and tastings of the fruit took place. As a result of the project, there are different tomato lines of the F6 generation with a high level of suitability for the respective sales channel. The main focus of this article, however, lies in the elaboration of the procedure: How can participatory breeding be designed and implemented, which methodological work steps have to be observed? Ultimately, the question arises: Was the effort worth it?