Seed Governance at the Intersection of Multiple Global and Nation-State Priorities: Modernizing Seeds in Turkey

Nurcan Atalan-Helicke and Becky Mansfield
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Nurcan Atalan-Helicke: Nurcan Atalan-Helicke is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at Skidmore College.
Becky Mansfield: Becky Mansfield is an Associate Professor of Geography at the Ohio State University.

Global Environmental Politics, 2012, vol. 12, issue 4, 125-146

Abstract: Given their value for both agriculture and biodiversity, seeds are the target of controversial efforts to establish intellectual property rights and variety protections that regulate sale, exchange, and breeding of genetic resources. This article examines seed governance in Turkey, a country in which many farmers continue to rely on “traditional” wheat varieties. It analyzes the tensions and ambiguities in seed governance that arise at the intersection of Turkey's goals of development and diverse priorities imposed by international frameworks. Seed governance is the product of an open-ended process of strategic elaboration among constituencies involved in trade, agriculture, development, and conservation. Although contradictions among international regulations present an array of choices, many countries including Turkey adopt laws that favor commercialization and privatization. This convergence results not simply from imposition of regulation from above, but also from developing countries' adoption of dominant global perspectives on the “modern” seed and agricultural progress. © 2012 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Keywords: seed governance; agriculture; biodiversity; Turkey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q10 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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