In todays episode of Propaganda By The Seed we speak with “Dr Sandy” aka Sandra Anagnostakis.  Dr. Sandy is a past-president of the Northern Nut Growers Alliance.  She has been working on breeding blight resistant chestnuts since 1968 at the Connecticut Agricultural Station and has selected and named many of the cultivars currently in use. Her areas of expertise include Fungal genetics and physiology, Plant genetics and breeding, and Host-parasite interactions.  We have a long ranging conversation speaking about growing, harvesting, and breeding chestnuts.  Sandy talks about her experience working with chestnuts for over 40 years, all the challenges and benefits of this incredible plant and tons of fascinating historic anecdotes from her work over the years.

For more information on Dr Sandy and her work, check out her bio page on the Connecticut Agricultural Station or look her up on Google Scholar.

(Note: this podcast was recorded around March/April 2022)