“Neither wheat, nor soy, nor corn. Just flowers.” This is how María Julia Pannunzio describes her work area within the Floriculture Institute of INTA Castelar, where she serves as a breeder. Far from seeking to increase productivity or resistance to diseases in more traditional extensive crops, as traditional “breeders” do, Pannunzio spends her days behind ornamental flowers to achieve varieties that are increasingly “more beautiful and long-lasting.” “The Floriculture Institute was born with an agreement with the International Cooperation Agency of Japan 20 years ago. Later the Japanese withdrew and all the staff moved to INTA. We do not do classical improvement. It would be what bees do, a pollination, only we do it directed. We select the mother and father manually,” the breeder explained in conversation with Bichos de Campo. Check out the full article here: The work begins with the selection and collection of native plants from Argentina, especially those that have an ...