How the Seed of Participatory Plant Breeding Found Its Way in the World through Adaptive Management

Micaela R. Colley, William F. Tracy, Edith T. Lammerts van Bueren, Martin Diffley and Conny J. M. Almekinders
Additional contact information
Micaela R. Colley: Plant Breeding Department, Wageningen University, PO Box 386, 6700 AJ Wageningen, The Netherlands
William F. Tracy: Department of Agronomy, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Edith T. Lammerts van Bueren: Plant Breeding Department, Wageningen University, PO Box 386, 6700 AJ Wageningen, The Netherlands
Martin Diffley: Organic Farming Works LLC, Farmington, MN 55024, USA
Conny J. M. Almekinders: Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, PO Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Participatory plant breeding (PPB), where farmers and formal breeders collaborate in the breeding process, can be a form of agricultural niche innovation. In PPB, new varieties are commonly adopted by the farmers involved and shared through seed networks, but few are released and commercialized; thus, the variety remains a niche innovation, used within a limited network of beneficiaries. PPB is increasingly emerging to address the needs of organic farmers in the Global North, yet barriers to implementation and institutionalization limit the ability to embed PPB into commercial channels of seed distribution. This case study of a PPB project in the US explores, through the lens of adaptive management, critical points in the commercial release of an organic sweet corn variety, which expanded the innovation beyond the niche environment. The authors show how evolving the actors’ roles, expanding the network of participants, and leveraging opportunities that emerged during the process aided in shifting institutional and market norms that commonly restrict the ability to embed PPB varieties in the formal seed system. They further demonstrate that distribution through the formal seed system did not limit access through informal networks; instead, it created a ripple effect of stimulating additional, decentralized breeding, and distribution efforts.

Keywords: participatory plant breeding; adaptive management; seed systems; seed networks; niche innovation; organic seed systems; ripple effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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