One major focus of the OVP is variety trials. We are constantly exploring different types of crops to find the best yielding, best tasting,  most prolific organic varities available. In the past several seasons the OVP has performed evaluations of several crops, most specifically lettuce and tomatoes.

Lettuce is a keystone crop at the Organic Vegetable Project. The field trials performed over the last year have encompassed dozens of varieties.  Summer trials were focused on bolting resistance and flavor, winter trials were focused on frost resistance.

Tomato trials were specific to heirlooms and hybrid exotics. The thirty-some varieties evaluated this summer have been narrowed down to ten varieties on the basis of customer appeal, flavor and yields. The 2010 tomato trials had larger representative samples (more plants of a given cultivar), replicate plots, and encompassed both pruned and unpruned tomato culture.

Other trials include kale, soybeans, garlic, eggplant, carrot, and turnip to name a few.