Manuel Tornel Martinez

Agronomist engineer with a PhD in agricultural research that leads the table grape team at IMIDA, the public institute for agricultural research. Together with ITUM, we have developed a genetic breeding program to obtain new varieties of seedless table grapes, using biotechnological techniques such as in vitro culture and molecular markers to obtain seedlings. Breeder of 20 new varieties already being grown in Spain; the first commercial farms are being stablished in Chile, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Namibia and Australia, with South Africa, India and USA to follow in the next few years. Two of the varieties have genes for resistance to powdery mildew, focusing on organic farming.