- This was all just a play to get me to eat tomatoes all day.

My name is Kaylee, and I'm a video producer at OPB for a new series that's looking at the people who are making the future of the region.

I'm here at Wellspent Tomato Fest with Oregon State University's vegetable breeding and genetics program to get a taste of the tomatoes of the future.

Professor Jim Myers has led the breeding program for nearly 30 years.

- I'm actually on halftime now in the process of retiring.

- There are several things that he looks for when he's cultivating a new variety of tomatoes.

One of them is nutrition, which is where the anthocyanin of tomatoes comes in.

That's the thing that turns purple vegetables like cabbage, purple.

When it's present in tomatoes, it makes them more nutrient-dense and higher in antioxidants.

For new tomato varieties, he's also not only looking at disease resistance, but drought resistance as well, and how to adapt them to a Pacific Northwest climate.

While these particular tomato varieties aren't available to market yet, it does take about 10 years for something to come from development to our plates.

- You know, breeders have to think long term, you know, 10, 20 years down the road.

And so that's kind of what I'm doing here, is anticipating what we may need in the future.

(casual music)