Plant breeding is like an iceberg. You see the tip, the new varieties – but you usually don't know what lies beneath in terms of years and decades, costs and efforts, failures and successes. On the other hand, breeding has the nice habit of always looking ahead, of literally producing the future. Looking back is therefore always looking forward.
For the very curious: what will 2026 be like? The short answer is this: fruity and spicy.
Of course, that's a bit of a cheat. As a breeder, I know the future. I have long hoped that one day we will be able to replace the futurologists who are heard at every other trade conference...
So, what can we expect in 2026?
New chilli and pepper varieties from our own breeding programme, and the seed range will also be expanded with our own varieties. In the berry sector, the Chef series (super DEGU varieties) will receive two valuable additions: a Chef Twotimer raspberry and the first Chef blackberry.
Picture: The new Chef® Twotimer® raspberry
There will be completely new autumn blackberries; in my opinion, they represent a veritable revolution and will fundamentally change how blackberries are grown: Lubera's new autumn blackberries are not only ripe from the beginning of August (i.e., 2–4 weeks earlier than existing varieties), they also taste consistently sweet – so much so that you sometimes wonder if you have picked the wrong fruit.
Picture: A completely new and innovative variety group – the new autumn blackberries
The omission test – what if we stopped starting new projects?
Believe me (or not), you wouldn't notice for at least 15 years. Like a painter whose studio is cleared out long after his death. And like a writer who, in wise foresight, wrote diaries for decades that now fill book covers, even though the author has long since stopped writing. Our varieties would continue to flow for at least 15, probably 20 years – always on the condition, of course, that the material in our breeding fields would continue to be cared for and selected.
When my accountant tells me about hidden, or rather silent, reserves (and probably means whatever he means), I just smile knowingly and think this to myself: if only you knew what silent reserves lie dormant in breeding. The feeling is good, anyway – but bringing these hidden reserves to fruition means hard work. And whether there is anything left over is not such a big problem with the right mindset. After all, we are breeding…the future...
The breeding team
Until about 10 years ago, I did most of the breeding myself – alongside establishing Lubera, I worked in the breeding field in the evenings and on Sunday afternoons. But that has changed significantly. Our breeding team (both current and former members) has played a key role in our success. However, I allow myself to stick my nose into everything. This creates the necessary unrest (we need to become faster, better, and more diverse) and gives me the illusion of being in control. Which, of course, would be an illusion in breeding anyway. Or how could you possibly control chance?
Picture: Reinhard and Marzena planting berries
Marzena Lipska is an experienced blackberry and raspberry breeder who learned this year that potatoes and fruit vegetables can be exciting, too. What a boring job it must have been when she only bred raspberries...😉
Reinhard Jank is responsible for southern plants, describes our range of hardy citrus fruits, selects new persimmon varieties, and is in the process of significantly expanding Passiflora breeding – while also making it more targeted.
Frederik Vollert is responsible for product development and brings the Lubera varieties to Lubera Edibles, where they are propagated. He also loves to stand in front of the plant and assess it – in a fraction of a second, after enjoying a preferably super-hot chilli...
Picture: Marzena and Frederik evaluating open-field tomatoes
Domestication: What does it take to breed a new crop plant?
Some members of our otherwise sensible breeding team still laugh at me more or less secretly when the topic of the tuberous pea (Lathyrus tuberosus) comes up. “Markus, you've really messed up here, it'll never work...” Yes, I reply quite confidently: something that is so aggressively disparaged must be quite exciting after all. A plant that produces tubers and extracts nitrogen from the air for further growth (nodule bacteria) is a little miracle. And when you consider that the tubers contain over 20% protein, you immediately lose your appetite for meat!
Picture: The tuberous pea (Lathyrus tuberosus) with its striking bright pink flowers
Well, not quite yet: first, the tubers need to grow a little bigger. But we already had a root section weighing 300 g, consisting of tubers or storage roots right next to each other.
Picture: The progress made in breeding can be clearly seen in the weight and yield of the tubers.
And how delicious they taste! Sweet, somewhere between potatoes and sweet potatoes. But if we manage to make this new earth fruit twice as fertile and productive, we will sweep the fake and artificial vegetarian steaks and sausages off the market. It is much more authentic and also better to enjoy a home-grown and local tuber!
Picture: When cooked, Lathyrus tubers resemble potatoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus and peas.
By the way, we do population breeding here: we cross the best plants of the last generation wildly with each other. Then we sow and select the best ones again. And so on...But we are already starting to propagate some of the most beautiful root types vegetatively, so that in a year or two we will be able to offer our interim results exclusively and in advance at Lubera.com. And if you really don't want to eat steaks and real sausages anymore? Then just send them to me. 😉
The second fusion: raspberries × blackberries
In reality, you need to do something at least three times for it to truly work. Unfortunately, we are only on our second attempt. The first time that raspberries were crossed with blackberries was 50–70 years ago (not by us, I had only just been born then), and we are now doing it for the second time in Buchs, Switzerland.
But why should it be more productive and successful now than it was back then?
Raspberries and blackberries have evolved dramatically over the last 50 years: they weigh three times as much as their ancestors, they are thornless, they taste much sweeter – and now both raspberries and blackberries can bear fruit directly on this year's canes.
It would be laughable if this did not succeed. This is our goal: a raspberry with the physique of a blackberry (full-bodied). At any rate, we have already come a long way. We have stressed the raspberries until they have doubled their chromosome set and can now be crossed relatively easily with blackberries. The first test plants should bear fruit in 2026 – and we have produced so many seeds in 2025 that I will probably have to lease new fields.
Picture: The first raspberry-blackberry hybrids in 50 years!
Picture: The seeds of the hybrid crosses are treated with sulphuric acid before stratification to increase their germination rate.
Rain in July – and the consequences
As gardeners and farmers, we inevitably become weather experts. At least to some extent. In any case, we think about which plant symptoms are related to which weather conditions.
You have probably already forgotten the 60 days of rain in July, but they left their mark on the plants: Almost all of the sweet potatoes yielded slightly less than in previous years. The comparison with the hailstorm two years ago is particularly interesting: the hailstones cut the sweet potato shoots as if with a knife, leaving no shoots longer than 15 cm. But in terms of the final result, in kilograms and quality, this was not noticeable in any way.
Picture: The sweet potato field after a heavy hailstorm
Conclusion: Southern sweet potatoes seem to be used to losing their leaves from time to time and replacing them from their reserves. But 15°C and continuous rain in July do throw them off track a bit.
And how happy we were about the dead outdoor tomatoes in the breeding programme! Late blight loved this July and struck with full force.
Picture: Clearly showing the varying degrees of Phytophthora infection in tomatoes
It was a great selection year and exposed all of our selection errors of recent years. If I had one wish as a tomato breeder, it would be to have a Phytophthora year like this every year.
Our passion fruit breeding programme is coming of age
Breeding always begins like puberty: dreams overshadow reality. For a while, the plant world belongs entirely to you. The wildest plans are forged and even become reality in part with the first initial successes.
But then, even in plant breeding, the honeymoon is over. It takes more than luck. Goals must be defined and pursued with care.
The results must be confirmed.
Does that sound a bit boring? Yes, it is – and our breeding interns learn this when they work with us for six months. Of course, there are lofty plans and exciting ideas, but the rest is hard work, especially over the long term.
Picture: Winter-hardy passion fruit plants are systematically tested for self-fertility.
Picture: A fruit has developed from a wrapped flower bud.
If you like, you can read Reinhard's report on our current winter-hardy passion fruit breeding below. Passion fruit breeding is coming of age and will make this new crop increasingly better and more useful for us in the coming years.
Which new project is the most exciting?
I really can't decide right now. Questions like that aren't entirely fair for a breeder. Therefore, I will choose two new projects:
- This year, Marzena made the first crosses between Physalis varieties – between the largest, best-tasting, and most fertile. You can hardly imagine how much better Physalis can be than the token fruits on restaurant plates. Until our new future varieties (time horizon 5-7 years) are ready, try Frutosa and Little Big Buddha – they will give you at least an idea of how good Cape gooseberries could actually be!
- Cucumbers – are they boring? Yes, but at least the cucumber is by far the second most widely grown fruit vegetable. And there are probably just as many cucumber varieties as there are tomato types. The goal is also clearer than with many other species: a cucumber that continues to grow outdoors and produces ripe cucumbers throughout the summer, in as many varieties as possible. Because cucumbers can be used for much more than just cucumber salad.
