Key stakeholders for the CucCAP project are: cucurbit growers, shippers and processors; seed companies that develop cucurbit cultivars; and the scientific community that develops new knowledge that will lead to improved cultivars.
We are appreciative of the support and advice provided by the CucCAP Stakeholder Advisory Board which includes industry representatives from each of the four cucurbit commodity groups and breeders and scientists from several seed companies with major cucurbit breeding programs.
Stakeholder Advisory Board
Commodity Group Representatives
- National Watermelon Promotion Board – Mark Arney, Executive Director
- National Watermelon Association – Robert Morrissey, Executive Director
- California Melon Research Board – Milas Russell, Former Chair, President, Sandstone Melon Company
- California Melon Research Board – Bart Fisher, Chair, President, Fisher Ranch Corporation
- Michigan Vegetable Council – Greg Bird, Executive Director
- Pickle Packers International – John Cox, Executive Vice President & John Swanson, Research Board
- Swanson Pickles – John Swanson, President
Seed Industry
- BASF Vegetable Seeds – Jovan Djordjevic, Global R&D Team Lead
- Bayer Crop Science – Nischit Shetty, NAM Cucurbit Breeding Lead, Vegetable Seeds
- East-West Seeds, Darush Struss, Biotechnology Manager
- Hollar Seed Company – Bruce Carle, Plant Breeder
- Johnny’s Selected Seeds – Lindsay Wyatt, Squash and pumpkin breeder
- Limagrain Vegetable Seeds, Kishor Bhattarai, Research Discovery Manager, HM Clause, Vegetable Seeds Division
- Origene America, Eyal Vardi, Founder and CEO
- Sakata Seed – Nihat Guner, Senior watermelon breeder
- Syngenta Seeds Inc. – Matt Kinkade, Team Lead, watermelon breeding
- VoliAgri Group Inc., Lakhwinder Randhawa, VP Research and Development
Cucurbit Crop Curators
- Robert Jarret – Citrullus spp.
USDA-ARS, Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit, 1109 Experiment Station, Griffin GA 30223
Bob.Jarret@ARS.USDA.GOV - Joanne Labate – Cucurbita spp.
USDA-ARS, Plant Genetic Resources Unit, Geneva, NY 14456
joanne.labate@ars.usda.gov - Kathy Reitsma – Cucumis (C. melo and C. sativus)
USDA-ARS, North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station
Iowa State University, Ames IA 50011
Kathleen.Reitsma@ARS.USDA.GOV
External Evaluators
- Allen Van Deynze
Director of Research at the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center
Department of Plant Sciences
Plant Reproductive Biology Extension Center Drive, Davis, CA 95616
avandeynze@ucdavis.edu - Phil McClean
Director of the Genomics and Bioinformatics Program at North Dakota State University
Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105
phillip.mcclean@ndsu.nodak.edu - Antonio Monforte
Research Scientist, Department of Biotechnology and Plant Breeding
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants, Valencia, Spain
amonforte@ibmcp.upv.es
