Concepts and Strategies of Organic Plant Breeding in Light of Novel Breeding Techniques

Edwin Nuijten, Monika M. Messmer and Edith T. Lammerts van Bueren
Additional contact information
Edwin Nuijten: Louis Bolk Institute, Hoofdstraat 24, 3972 LA Driebergen, The Netherlands
Monika M. Messmer: Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Department of Crop Sciences, Ackerstrasse 113, CH-5070 Frick, Switzerland
Edith T. Lammerts van Bueren: Louis Bolk Institute, Hoofdstraat 24, 3972 LA Driebergen, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: In this paper, we describe the development of a set of guiding principles for the evaluation of breeding techniques by the organic sector over time. The worldwide standards of organic agriculture (OA) do not allow genetic engineering (GE) or any products derived from genetic engineering. The standards in OA are an expression of the underlying principles of health, ecology, fairness and care. The derived norms are process and not product oriented. As breeding is considered part of the process in agriculture, GE is not a neutral tool for the organic sector. The incompatibility between OA and GE is analyzed, including the “novel breeding techniques”. Instead, alternative breeding approaches are pursued based on the norms and values of organic agriculture not only on the technical level but also on the social and organizational level by including other value chain players and consumers. The status and future perspectives of the alternative directions for organic breeding are described and discussed.

Keywords: organic farming; plant breeding; guiding principles; alternative techniques; future perspectives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/1/18/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/1/18/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2016:i:1:p:18-:d:86016

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().