Seed exchange networks and food system resilience in the United States

Network Analysis of Seed Flow, a Traditional Method for Conserving Tartary Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) Landraces in Liangshan, Southwest China

“…In these circumstances, farmers may acquire seeds via cash transactions, barter, as gifts, by exchanging one variety of seed for another, as a loan to be repaid upon harvest, or even by theft from another farmer's field [20][21][22]. Farmer seed networks can provide quality planting materials [23], increasing the resilience and autonomy of small-scale farmers, while reducing dependence on commercial seeds [24,25]. The role of farmer seed systems is central to the current debates on seed sovereignty and the conservation of crop germplasm [26].…”

The impact of interventions in the global land and agri‐food sectors on Nature’s Contributions to People and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

“…If natural habitats are decreased due to bioenergy expansion, would reduce natural pollinators (Keitt, 2009) Use of open pollinated seeds is beneficial for pollinators and creates political will to conserve them (Helicke, 2015) NCP Bioenergy and BECCS will reduce ocean acidification by reducing CO 2 emissions and concentrations (Doney, Fabry, Feely, & Kleypas, 2009;IPCC, 2018) N/A NCP 6 Regulation of freshwater quantity, flow, and timing…”

Gene Banks, Seed Libraries, and Vegetable Sanctuaries: The Cultivation and Conservation of Heritage Vegetables in Britain, 1970–1985

“…A recurring theme in this literature is the role played by seed savers in conserving the genetic diversity of agricultural crops. Researchers have sought to establish the direct contributions of seed savers to conservation, for example, in charting the nature and extent of the crop diversity perpetuated through their activities (Ellen and Platten ; Veteto , ); the ways in which their conservation targets differ from those of state institutions (Carolan ; Van Dooren ); and the other conservation‐related benefits of their activities such as increasing awareness about biodiversity (Steinberg ), renewing agrarian knowledge networks (Campbell ), and generating more resilient food systems (Helicke ). Anthropologists, ethnographers, and geographers have developed rich accounts of what prompts individuals to want to conserve crop diversity (especially Nazarea ; see also Carolan ; Jordan ; Purdue ), including assessments of their perspectives on seed saving as a politically engaged activity (Phillips ; Pottinger ,b).…”

“…By comparison, in places where agricultural industrialization, the growth of commercial seed industry, and the effects of intellectual property protection have distanced consumers from farming and farmers from seed production (Fitzgerald ; Kloppenburg ; Mascarenhas and Busch ), these activities have sometimes had to be rediscovered by late 20th‐century growers. This rediscovery was and is tied up with varied agendas, but especially with the search for alternatives to industrial food production and in some cases industrial society as a whole (see examples in Helicke ; Phillips ; Steinberg ). From the 1970s onward, it was additionally informed by an emerging international consensus about the loss of genetic diversity in crops resulting from global agricultural change (Fenzi and Bonneuil ; Pistorius ; Pistorius and Van Wijk ).…”