Ocabreeders – Working together to produce a range of hardy, reliable, disease-resistant and high-yield crops for Europe.
The Guild of Oca Breeders
The Guild of Oca Breeders (GOB) is a citizen science plant breeding club formed in 2015 that aims to improve the Andean vegetable oca (Oxalis tuberosa) for cultivation in the Northern European growing environment. The more people get involved, the greater our chances of success to achieve our ultimate aim for oca to become as widespread and globally popular as the potato.
Oca is a high-altitude Andean tuber crop native to South America. It’s been grown occasionally in the UK for over 150 years but has yet to become a commercial success. The delicious tubers are short-day plants, which means they only start to form when summer ends and the nights grow longer. Unfortunately, this also leaves them vulnerable to cold and frost and gardeners are discouraged by poor crops.
The mission of the Guild is to breed a variety of oca that responds much better to European variations in day length and climate. Our chosen, proven and simple method is recurrent mass selection: a process by which large numbers of genetically diverse seedlings are planted and the best are selected and replanted the following year. This is the same process through which farmers were able to adapt the potato, originally a short-day tuber itself, to the long-day summers of the northern hemisphere.
The Guild of Oca Breeders is a self-funded project wholly sustained by members and volunteers. If you’d like to get involved and offer your support, please do get in touch.
We’re also actively seeking grant and investment funding.
And if you have suggestions and ideas, let us know!
Good day.. we’re a new farm trying to plant special Verity & non on the normal market vegetables and we would like to try and grow your wonderful oca. Please get in touch so you can help us with more information. Best regards. Sanaa @ dirt farm produce.
Really sorry but we no longer supply oca tubers. Good luck with your project.