Operationalizing collective action for crop diversity in-situ management: insights from a decentralized collective design approach

Elsa T. Berthet (), Hermance Louis, Roma Hooge, Sara Bosshardt, Lise Malicet-Chebbah, Gaëlle Frank, Elodie Baritaux, Audrey Barrier-Guillot, Léa Bernard, Simon Bridonneau, Hélène Montaz, Esther Picq and Isabelle Goldringer
Additional contact information
Elsa T. Berthet: USC 1339, Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, INRAE
Hermance Louis: Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, UMR GQE-Le Moulon
Roma Hooge: Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, UMR GQE-Le Moulon
Sara Bosshardt: Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, UMR GQE-Le Moulon
Lise Malicet-Chebbah: Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, UMR GQE-Le Moulon
Gaëlle Frank: Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, UMR GQE-Le Moulon
Elodie Baritaux: ARDEAR Centre Val de Loire
Audrey Barrier-Guillot: ARDEAR Centre Val de Loire
Léa Bernard: ARDEAR Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Simon Bridonneau: Triticum
Hélène Montaz: Graines de Noé
Esther Picq: AgroBio Périgord
Isabelle Goldringer: Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, UMR GQE-Le Moulon

Agriculture and Human Values, 2025, vol. 42, issue 1, No 30, 485-505

Abstract: Abstract The modernization of agriculture in Northern countries has led to a loss of crop diversity, as well as a loss of knowledge, know-how and rights of farmers regarding on-farm seed breeding. In France, the Réseau Semences Paysannes (RSP) brings together collectives of actors (farmers, bakers, citizens, gardeners) mobilized in a quest to reclaim these aspects. Within the framework of the decentralized participatory breeding program conducted in collaboration with INRAE, farmers have co-constructed knowledge in terms of dynamic management of heterogeneous wheat populations. Yet, as the RSP network grows, these actors face new types of challenges regarding collective action. To address them, we proposed to consider peasant seeds as « common unknowns » rather than « common goods » and we adapted and applied an innovative design approach drawing upon the KCP (Knowledge-Concept-Proposals) method. This approach consisted in implementing, from 2019 to 2021, five decentralized design workshops with local seed breeding collectives. The replication of design workshops in different contexts provided a framework for interaction among RSP members, allowed the sharing of both scientific and experiential knowledge. Noteworthily, it fostered the generation of many proposals for enhancing collective action, and led to the development of operational proposals with a view to implement them in the future. This methodology-oriented paper mainly describes the decentralized design approach implemented, its outputs and outcomes, as well as its interests and limits in the context of crop diversity management. It also analyses how the workshop outputs enriches previous works in the field; in particular how such a participatory design approach leads to produce original operational solutions to respond to challenges identified in the literature.

Keywords: Participatory plant breeding; Innovative design; Design workshops; Peasant seeds; Crop diversity collective management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s10460-024-10630-y

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