“My mom’s Jamaican, so I grew up drinking sorrel made with ginger and cinnamon from plants we grew in our backyard. Now I want to bring that same hibiscus into my own breeding projects and see what new varieties we can create. As a plant breeder, you’re not just stuck in a lab or out in the field; you move through different seasons where you do different things, and you have so much creative freedom.”
Afrifa Amoah-Mensah is a junior in the UF/IFAS Plant Breeding Major. For him, choosing breeding lines feels like art backed by data, deciding which hibiscus or sorrel varieties to cross, testing ideas, and solving problems like pest pressure or disease along the way. Growing up drinking his family’s backyard sorrel and later working with everything from blueberries to ornamentals, he came to understand that plants are a way to be inventive, to build something living and new. That sense of creativity and his time as an FFA student throughout high school are what drew him to studying plant science and keep him excited about eventually becoming a plant breeder.
Although he didn’t grow up on a farm, agriculture became part of his life after his family moved from the Bronx, New York, to Central Florida. He joined FFA in middle school and quickly discovered a passion for agriculture, eventually finding his niche in plants. According to Afrifa, “I just found my path, which is plants. I feel like that brought me here. I owe a lot to FFA.”
That journey led him to serve as a Florida FFA State Officer, representing students across the state for a year. As one of six statewide ambassadors, he traveled to almost 50 middle and high schools, encouraging and educating other students to explore careers in agriculture and what those possibilities could look like.
“Your job is to essentially explain to kids [that you] don’t have to be a farmer,” he continues, “there are so many different careers you can pursue.”
The experience also pushed him well beyond his comfort zone. He addressed crowds of more than 6,000 people at the Florida FFA State Convention, traveled internationally to study agricultural systems in Portugal and Spain, and grew as both a leader and public speaker.
Following his year of service, Afrifa completed an internship with Agri-Starts, a Florida tissue culture company, where he propagated a variety of food crops and ornamental and aquatic plants. Of his experience: “I feel … companies value lab time, especially as a grad student. [Being able to work with your hands, I feel like it kind of threw me into the fire and got me to really learn all of this. Over time, I got better at it, and I feel like I’m in a good spot now. If I were to go for a company and have to do tissue culture, I already know it because I did it for seven months.” That time in the lab didn’t just build his technical skills but also clarify what kind of work environment he wants next. Now, he’s aiming for companies like Ball, Proven Winners, or Driscoll, where he can combine that lab-based propagation experience.
At UF, Afrifa works in Dr. David Clark’s Ornamental Horticulture Breeding Laboratory as the only undergraduate in a small group. He works closely with faculty and graduate students on meaningful research projects while learning advanced techniques like flow cytometry. “I got to start working on flow cytometry the other day, which is pretty cool,” he said. “I love it. I really love my lab.”
This summer Afrifa is working with Helianthus debilis, the dune sunflower, a Florida native plant that plays an important role in coastal ecosystems. He is part of Resilient Cedar Key, a community restoration initiative that aims to restore native habitats following hurricane damage. The long-term goal is to help restore cedar trees in the area. Researchers have found that cedar trees establish more successfully when planted behind established dune sunflowers because the flowers help stabilize the soil and create favorable conditions for young trees to develop healthy root systems. Propagating native dune sunflowers also provides a habitat for pollinators and other wildlife. According to Afrifa, the Resilient Cedar Key project has planted more than 10,000 native plants thus far, helping improve coastal ecosystem resilience.
As well as this effort, Afrifa is working with kenaf, a fast-growing biomass crop with potential for sustainable paper production. “We’ve been working with kenaf,” he explained. “It has two different fiber components: the core and the bast. Last week we harvested the plants and sent them to the Citra lab, where we’re going to make paper from them.” The hands-on experience is exactly what he hoped to find at UF, giving him the chance to contribute to real research while preparing for a future in plant breeding.
“If you’re getting to work on projects you want to do and getting that hands-on experience, that’s kind of the ideal,” he pointed-out.
His long-term goal is to become a professional plant breeder, whether developing ornamental crops or edible varieties. Conversations with UF faculty have reinforced that plant breeders are defined not by a single crop, but by the ability to solve problems across many species. Outside the classroom and laboratory, Afrifa has become deeply involved in campus life. He serves as vice president of UF’s Agronomy Soils Club, where he’s helping rebuild membership, organize educational seminars, and create opportunities for students to attend professional conferences. He’s also a Plant Science Ambassador, introducing prospective students to the major and sharing the many career paths available within plant science.
His own interests continue to grow alongside his education. Afrifa has connected with researchers at the University of the Virgin Islands to explore breeding new hibiscus varieties. He hopes one day to combine cultural traditions with innovative breeding techniques to develop plants that are both meaningful and useful.
For students considering plant science, his advice is to get involved. Try different clubs, meet people, ask questions, and don’t be afraid to explore. You never know what part of plant science you’ll fall in love with until you experience it.
For Afrifa, “when I first came here, there was like a whole bunch of clubs… biology club… I feel like, you know, I just want them to give it a shot, right? If one doesn’t fit well, you don’t have to do it. You can find somewhere else to go and find your community.”
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