Visualizing Consolidation in the Global Seed Industry: 1996–2008

Howard, Philip H.

doi:10.3390/su1041266

Cited by 185 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The potential of this initiative to generate cascading effects in the seafood industry is interesting, as is the process of continuing to evaluate the validity of our working hypothesis. Observations of industry consolidation in the seed industry (51) or private actors with large carbon dioxide emissions (52) suggest that similar approaches could be taken to stimulate novel thinking in other sectors as well.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

Österblom

Jouffray

Folke

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The ocean represents a fundamental source of micronutrients and protein for a growing world population. Seafood is a highly traded and sought after commodity on international markets, and is critically dependent on healthy marine ecosystems. A global trend of wild stocks being overfished and in decline, as well as multiple sustainability challenges associated with a rapid growth of aquaculture, represent key concerns in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Existing efforts aimed to improve the sustainability of seafood production have generated important progress, primarily at the local and national levels, but have yet to effectively address the global challenges associated with the ocean. This study highlights the importance of transnational corporations in enabling transformative change, and thereby contributes to advancing the limited understanding of large-scale private actors within the sustainability science literature. We describe how we engaged with large seafood producers to coproduce a global science-business initiative for ocean stewardship. We suggest that this initiative is improving the prospects for transformative change by providing novel links between science and business, between wild-capture fisheries and aquaculture, and across geographical space. We argue that scientists can play an important role in facilitating change by connecting knowledge to action among global actors, while recognizing risks associated with such engagement. The methods developed through this case study contribute to identifying key competences in sustainability science and hold promises for other sectors as well.coproduction | governance | learning | resilience | transformation S ustainability science is becoming a mainstream scientific approach for understanding and addressing the global and interconnected challenges currently facing humanity (1, 2). A key component of sustainability science is to collaborate with actors outside of academia to codesign and codevelop an understanding of the challenges and their corresponding solutions (2, 3). Local and regional examples illustrate how sustainability scientists have engaged with society as change agents (4, 5) and the challenges associated with such engagement (3,4,6,7). In this context, however, there has been limited attention devoted to large-scale private actors (8). Existing studies primarily focus on how major brands invest in-and benefit from-sustainability initiatives (9), or analyze how and when voluntary commitments to sustainability may influence corporate behavior (10, 11). Little is known about how scientists can engage with corporations and how knowledge can be transferred from science to action by the private sector.In the following, we present our experience from a coproduction process with large transnational seafood corporations, aimed at stimulating transformative change in the seafood industry, and the subsequent emergence of a global initiative for ocean stewardship. Here, ocean stewardship is viewed as an adaptive and lear...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

Österblom

Jouffray

Folke

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), along with extravagant research and development expenses, virtually ensures that only a handful of corporations control the majority of the industrial food supply. As Howard (2009Howard ( :1271 explains:…”

Section: Journal Of Political Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hybridization alone did not warrant industry investment in seed companies. Rather, it was the "enforcement of patent-like protections, which attracted the entrance of chemical and oil companies to add to their portfolio of agricultural inputs" (Howard 2009(Howard :1271. When agrichemical corporations released transgenic seeds with full patent protection in the 1990s, a competition ensued whereby they absorbed as many small family-owned seed companies as possible (for an alternative viewpoint see Heald and Chapman 2011).…”

Section: Journal Of Political Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instability comes from vertical integration whereby one corporation owns each step in the food system-from production through packaging and distribution-including monopoly seed control (Howard 2009). Multinational corporations have purchased and absorbed small seed companies and "disappeared" the myriad seed varieties they offered, resulting in a limited selection of genetically-modified or hybrid varieties commercially available to farmers (Howard 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Multinational corporations have purchased and absorbed small seed companies and "disappeared" the myriad seed varieties they offered, resulting in a limited selection of genetically-modified or hybrid varieties commercially available to farmers (Howard 2009). Traditional farmers and their predecessors developed the seed stock (genetics) that contemporary agriculture's lab technicians need to create new commercial varieties through in situ and in vivo farmer-breeding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Free seeds and food sovereignty: anthropology and grassroots agrobiodiversity conservation strategies in the US South

Campbell

Veteto

2015

Journal of Political Ecology

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Neoliberal economic frameworks threaten the ability of marginalized people worldwide to grow, harvest, and access sufficient healthy food because they deny traditional collective seed ownership and preclude subsistence as a viable livelihood. Many internationally-oriented counter-responses work to reframe intellectual property law in favor of traditional farmers. In the United States, various grassroots agricultural biodiversity conservation projects designed to re-establish the control of open-pollinated seeds within communities have emerged with similar intent. This article situates and explores the role of open-pollinated seeds and agricultural biodiversity conservation strategies in local food sovereignty. The authors direct applied research projects that collaboratively document and disseminate open-pollinated seed varieties throughout the Southeastern United States with a specific focus on the Ozark Highlands and Appalachian Mountains. The research methods represent an activist anthropology-participant observation and ethnographic interviewing while collaboratively growing and sharing seed varieties with local farmers, gardeners, seed-savers, and activists-with the explicit purpose of forging more sustainable, integrated, and sovereign local food systems. Keywords: agricultural anthropology, agrobiodiversity, grassroots strategies, in situ conservation, seed saving RésuméLes cadres économiques néolibérales menacent la capacité des personnes marginalisées dans la culture, la récolte, et l'accès à des aliments sains de l'autosuffisance, parce qu'ils nient la propriété collective des semences et empêchent de subsistance comme moyen de subsistance viables. Beaucoup d'efforts internationaux ont tenté de résister à cette tendance en recadrant le droit de la propriété intellectuelle en faveur des agriculteurs traditionnels. Aux États-Unis, il y a nombreux projets communautaires de conservation de la biodiversité agricole. Ils sont conçus pour rétablir le contrôle des semences à pollinisation libre au sein des communautés. Cet article situe et explore le rôle des semences à pollinisation libre, et les stratégies de conservation de la biodiversité agricole, dans la souveraineté alimentaire locale. Les auteurs mènent des projets de recherche qui documentent les variétés de semences à pollinisation libre dans tout le sud-est des États-Unis, avec un accent particulier sur les Monts Ozark et les Appalaches. Les méthodes de recherche représentent une anthropologie activiste, impliquant l'observation participante et entretiens ethnographiques. Au même temps, nous cultivons et partageons des variétés de semences avec les agriculteurs locaux, les jardiniers, es gens qui épargnent les graines, et des militants. Un but explicite est de créer des systèmes alimentaires locaux qui sont plus durable, intégrée et souverain. Mots-clés: anthropologie agricole, la biodiversité agricole, les stratégies de base, la conservation in situ, la conservation des semences 1 Dr. Brian C. Campbell, Associate Professor, Anthropology and...

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