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Biography: Jeremy Edwards, UF/IFAS, Tomato Breeder
By Jeremy Edwards, Assistant Professor, UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences, Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, Balm, FL
Jeremy Edwards is a Florida native that has recently returned home to Florida and the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC). He began working at the GCREC in 1993 as a summer job while attending high school in Bradenton FL. Jeremy continued working at the GCREC during the summers while he was an undergraduate at the University of Florida.
He received his B.S. degree from the University of Florida in Horticultural Science in 1999. Jeremy left Florida to attend graduate school, and he received his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Cornell University in 2005. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona in Tucson from 2005 to 2007.
In July 2007, Jeremy accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Horticultural Science at the GCREC, now located in Balm, FL. His position is supported by an endowment from the Paul J. DiMare Foundation with the purpose of establishing a new tomato breeding and genetics program, and to partner with the existing team of IFAS researchers to maintain and enhance the viability of the Florida tomato industry.
Jeremy's research program is aimed at creating tomato cultivars for Florida that have enhanced disease and pest resistance, along with outstanding yield, flavor, and horticultural characteristics. Using traditional and molecular techniques, and informed by the emerging tomato genome sequence, he works to efficiently move valuable traits from tomato germplasm resources into finished cultivars.
Jeremy is very interested in pursuing discussions with tomato growers to better understand their challenges and to identify areas where tomato breeding and genetics research can help.
Jeremy may be contacted at edwardsjd@ufl.edu
