Cover Crops: More Than Just a Mix in a Bag

Cover crops have gained growing interest among farmers and researchers—for good reason. They offer a wide range of benefits: soil cover, improved soil health, nitrogen fixation, weed suppression, erosion control, and support for beneficial insects.

There’s a long list of species used—brassicas, summer grasses, clovers, winter pea, vetch, rye, and more. Each has its unique properties and acts as a tool in the regenerative agriculture toolbox.

But here’s something often overlooked: within each cover crop species, there are significant varietal differences—just like with any crop. Traits such as early vigor, biomass production, weed suppression, flowering time, and ground cover can vary widely, and they matter.

Cover cropping is a long-term investment, and for many farms, it’s seen as an additional cost. As a result, private investment in cover crop breeding has historically been low. Farmers often purchase VNS (Variety Not Stated) seed, which limits progress and transparency.

From Annuals to Perennials: How SeedLinked is Powering the Next Generation of Crop Innovation—Starting with Honeyberry

Over the past five years, SeedLinked has become a go-to platform for trialing and evaluating annual crops, empowering over 14,500 growers and 35 partner organizations to trial more than 5,750 varieties across 850+ collaborative trials. While our roots are in tomatoes, peppers, grains, and other annuals, 2024 marked a turning point: SeedLinked is going perennial.

And we’re starting with one promising—and underappreciated—perennial crops for northern growers: Honeyberry, also known as Haskap (Lonicera caerulea).

Why Start with Honeyberry?

Honeyberry is an early-fruiting, cold-hardy perennial berry that thrives in northern climates and organic systems. Originally bred in Russia and Japan and further improved in North America over the past 10-15 years, honeyberry stands out for:

• Suitability for USDA zones 2-7
• Adaptation to short growing seasons
• Applications for U-pick, CSA, fresh market, and processing (juice, jam, wine)
• Ecosystem services

But despite its potential,

From Flavor to Drought Tolerance: How SeedLinked is Supporting Tomato Innovation in Portugal

As climate change reshapes agriculture across Europe, resilient and regionally adapted seeds are more essential than ever. At SeedLinked , we’re proud to contribute to this future through our collaborative work in Portugal as part of the EU-funded LiveSeeding project, a multi-country effort to boost organic seed sovereignty and participatory breeding.

In Portugal, we are working alongside:

• Living Seeds- Sementes Vivas , a certified organic seed company leading breeding efforts for drought-tolerant open-pollinated tomato varieties. Their focus is on selecting lines that thrive under low-input, low-irrigation systems while delivering high yield and flavor. Micha Groenewegen
• @ESAC (Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra) and INIAV (Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária), who coordinate citizen science and farmer trials, engaging a broad network of growers across diverse microclimates.

Trial Design & Protocol:

In 2024,

Live Seeding

The Liveseeding project is a European initiative aimed at enhancing the sustainability and resilience of agricultural systems through the promotion of seed diversity and organic plant breeding.

2023 SeedLinked Cherry Tomato Trial

The 2023 SeedLinked Cherry Tomato Trial features 14 new varieties from some of the industry’s most innovative breeders, such as Panam Seeds, N&N, Seed Savers Exchange and Wild Mountain Seeds. From picture-perfect reds to striped or anthocyanin-blushed cherry tomatoes, participants received a subset of 3 unique varieties to compare.Growers were  asked to plant at least 3 plants per variety in the same setting. The plant breeders have a special interest in comparing open field/garden and hoop house/caterpillar tunnel environments,This trial is only open to US growers.