The Student Collaborative Organic Plant Breeding Education (SCOPE) project is a student-led collaborative of student and faculty plant breeders working with local organic growers to improve crop varieties for organic farming systems in Northern California.

The celtuce breeding project grew from an interdisciplinary seminar held in the Winter of 2022, where students heard from farmers, chefs, researchers, and farm advisors about Asian specialty crops, cultural memory banking, and the history and current context of the Asian American community in California's food and agriculture. As many relevant crops for this community have limited availability in the U.S. and have not been adapted for US production, Asian American farmers from the Second Generation Seeds collective and UC Davis students are now breeding new cultivars of celtuce using participatory breeding methods. This project also aims to document student and farmer experiences within the project and incorporate the culinary and cultural significance of celtuce into the selection and variety development process.