Overview
In this episode, Glendon Ascough, Research Director at Starke Ayres, discusses the evolution of the company from a historic seed merchant to Africa’s largest independent vegetable breeding company. He shares his personal journey into plant science, driven by a fascination with genetics, and highlights the company’s focus on breeding disease-resistant vegetable varieties tailored to local and international markets. A central topic is the collaboration with Computomics, using machine learning to predict sweet corn hybrid performance. Glendon emphasizes the importance of high-quality, diverse phenotypic data and the shift in breeder mindset required for data-driven approaches. He explains how this collaboration helps streamline trial placement and enhance decision-making. The episode also touches on challenges in scaling breeding innovations within a small, agile team, and the value of direct breeder-farmer interactions.
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Glendon Ascough is currently the Research Director of Starke Ayres, a South African vegetable seed breeding company. With qualifications in plant physiology and genetics, he was responsible for setting up molecular breeding activities for all crops in the in-house breeding programs. He overseas bioinformatics and pathology research and also the breeding activities over multiple research sites, external collaborative research projects and strategy implementation. |
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