Genetic analysis by a team led by Travis Parker points to beans’ earliest domestication in Jalisco, Mexico, and confirms a new site of proto-domestication in the northern Andes of South America. The work offers a roadmap for breeders to understand the traits they seek to improve modern bean crops.
Jorge Dubcovsky, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis, has been named the 2026 World Agriculture Prize Laureate.
UC Davis hosted the first-ever Strawberry Nursery Congress, an international event for nursery operators, University of California researchers and growers, with the aim of strengthening partnerships.
Yufei Qian, a doctoral student in the lab of Gail Taylor, offers guidelines for breeders to improve growth and nutrition of leafy greens for controlled environment agriculture.
Scientists in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences are developing cultivars of pasta wheat that resist the deadly fungus that causes stripe rust and threatens the world's wheat production. Resistant bread wheat is up next.
Xiaofei Zhang, in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, has a federal grant to develop bread wheat that will grow short, but without the problems that come with short-stature wheat currently available.
Students from the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences presented and networked at the recent ASTA 65th Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference, supported by the private-public partnership Seed Central.
Venkatesan Sundaresan won a $4.9-million grant from the Gates Foundation to develop money-saving seeds for Indian farmers. He's a distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.
Researchers at the UC Dry Bean Field Day shared progress on developing bean varieties with higher yields, larger seeds, and better drought, heat, and disease tolerance, using tools such as drones and robotics to accelerate breeding and field testing.
Scientists statewide are testing varieties of large-seeded and baby limas, both bush and vine types, for qualities that are great for consumers and for growers facing a range of conditions. Research updates were presented at the 2025 UC Dry Bean Field Day.
