Zachary Stansell, Ph.D. '20, is a geneticist, horticulturalist and curator of the vegetable and hemp crop collections of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service at Cornell AgriTech. When he was a Ph.D. student at Cornell AgriTech, Stansell researched brassica crops and became interested in the enormous amount of variability in broccoli. This experience deepened his passion for the conservation of crop genetic resources. Stansell grew up in coastal South Carolina on a shrimp farm and has learned he much prefers vegetable farming to seafood farming.
Describe your responsibilities at the USDA? What does a typical day look like for you?
As a germplasm curator for the National Plant Germplasm System, my work is not terribly different than that of a librarian, in that I manage large collections of seeds and their associated "metadata." My main responsibilities are to collect and conserve valuable genetic resources from around the world, generate new seeds, distribute seeds internationally, collect large amounts of data, and maintain a database/website that tracks all this information.
Why is the USDA-ARS seed collection at AgriTech?
Cornell AgriTech has one of over 20 different gene banks that are part of the USDA National Plant Germplasm System. Different crops are maintained at different locations based on many reasons, but the climate and available infrastructure are, of course, important considerations. For example, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to keep the coffee collection in upstate New York, but it's a wonderful place for crops like cold-hardy grapes and buckwheat. Historically, the apple collection has been the flagship collection in Geneva, although this is quickly being supplanted by the hemp collection, which was initiated in Geneva in 2022.
To read more at cals.cornell.edu