Corporate Control Over Seeds: Limiting Access and Farmers' Rights

Mulvany, Patrick

doi:10.1111/j.1759-5436.2005.tb00199.x

Cited by 21 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Further, it isn't clear that tightening or closing the loophole could overcome the labor and monetary costs that already impede organic maize seed production. Finally, rapid changes in NOP rules would likely be disruptive given the significant lead times for seed production and competitive pressures facing this sector (Mulvany, 2005;Kroma, 2006;Mascarenhas and Busch, 2006;Aoki, 2009;Mendum and Glenna, 2009;Witcombe and Yadavendra, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the Seed Loophole and Bottleneck on Quantity and Quality of Organic Maize Seed in the U.S. Midwest

et al. 2022

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A case study in the U.S. Midwest explored factors likely to be limiting organic maize, aka corn seed quality and quantity. We sought to learn about the influence of the regulatory loophole which allows use of conventionally produced, untreated, non-GMO seed for organic production when an organic equivalent is unavailable and, the organic sectors' concerns about access to quality seed, and seed price. Two farmer focus groups, a workshop with seed producers, a survey of merchants of organic maize seed, and a research project advisory board suggested that the degree of concern about the loophole and seed quality varied according to participants' priorities. Farmers equate seed quality with agronomic traits impacting grain yield and crop establishment (vigor, emergence and tolerance to cultivation). Traits influencing grain quality or composition for specific uses, and the ability to satisfy consumer wants were more important to buyers. Seed price was of greater concern to farmers and buyers catering to commodity markets than to producers and buyers serving de-commodified markets. Producers that prized yield most highly were less concerned about the loophole or interested in participatory on-farm breeding and testing networks than farmers catering to specialty markets. Despite interest, little information about nutritional quality, rhizosphere function, and ecosystem service provision is circulated outside of academic groups. A workshop with leaders in the organic seed improvement industry and advisory board input identified the inability of inbred lines to withstand weed, pest, and disease pressure as the main bottleneck increasing costs and limiting investment in organic seed improvement. The cost differential between organic-and conventional non-treated seed, and competition from organic grain imports, were believed to be limiting the price of certified seed, thus making it difficult to garner investment and innovation needed to develop desired agronomic, environmental, or grain-quality traits. An audit of seed sales reported by >90% of U.S. vendors of certified seed found that the volume of organic seed being sold may account for as much as 75% of organic maize acreage planted in the U.S. Costs of non-treated seed sourced through the loophole are 40-100% less than certified seed. With 75% of U.S. organic corn being produced using certified organic seed, we conclude that the loophole is not altering seed quality by undercutting organic seed sales. Substantially higher costs of organic seed production and challenges associated with organic seed production appear to be the most likely barriers to maize seed improvement for the organic sector.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the Seed Loophole and Bottleneck on Quantity and Quality of Organic Maize Seed in the U.S. Midwest

et al. 2022

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“…For example, the Kenyan Small Scale Farmers Forum (Mulvany, 2005) has organized a strong lobby against their promotion by the Kenyan government and science establishment. The 'Thika Declaration' was launched in 2004, and resistance to this is also spreading internationally with the growth of 'seed fairs', where farmers exchange seeds and knowledge.…”

Section: New Spaces For Sustainable Development 187mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concentration of ownership and control over plant resources has been accelerating over the past 20 years (Mulvany, 2005). The trend is one of commodifying the control of selected genetic seeds and breeds away from local producers.…”

Section: New Spaces For Sustainable Development 187mentioning

confidence: 99%

Denial or diversity? creating new spaces for sustainable development

Marsden

2006

Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning

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This paper assesses the current position of environmental social science from a perspective which locates it within an increasingly contested set of conditions. These are associated with the politics and economics of denial, on the one hand, but the increasing legitimacy of environmental vulnerabilities and resource depletion on the other. In this context it is important to assess how elements of ecological modernization-as diverse alternatives and more spatially embedded, resource-based frameworks-can be established and developed in different regions. The paper argues that environmental social science sits in the juxtaposition of increasing environmental and social vulnerability and the economics and politics of its denial. This context needs to encourage more critical treatment of alternatives to the conventional 'treadmill of production' model while situating these in their contested and competitive relationships with it. This could contribute to a more effective and normative 'sustainability science'. More specifically, it is argued that it is in the 'newly-industrializing' regions-such as the agri-food regions of China and Brazil-that the 'battleground' between the 'treadmill of production' and carbon-intensive models and the alternative sustainable development models are particularly intense. This argument suggests a re-interpretation of environmental uneven development in ways which assess both conventional and alternative resource frameworks at the same time and in parallel scales and spaces.

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“…Among these concerns is the cost of developing transgenics and the need to recoup these investments. This can lead to a growing concentration and privatization of seeds in the hands of a few transnational corporations (Mulvany, 2005) that exacerbates the vulnerability of poor farmers.…”

Section: Poverty Reduction Economic and Logistical Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%