How the Seed of Participatory Plant Breeding Found Its Way in the World through Adaptive Management

Micaela R Colley,William F Tracy,Conny J M Almekinders,Edith T Lammerts Van Bueren,Martin Diffley

doi:10.3390/su14042132

Abstract

Participatory plant breeding (PPB), where farmers and formal breeders collaborate in the breeding process, can be a form of agricultural niche innovation. In PPB, new varieties are commonly adopted by the farmers involved and shared through seed networks, but few are released and commercialized; thus, the variety remains a niche innovation, used within a limited network of beneficiaries. PPB is increasingly emerging to address the needs of organic farmers in the Global North, yet barriers to implementation and institutionalization limit the ability to embed PPB into commercial channels of seed distribution. This case study of a PPB project in the US explores, through the lens of adaptive management, critical points in the commercial release of an organic sweet corn variety, which expanded the innovation beyond the niche environment. The authors show how evolving the actors’ roles, expanding the network of participants, and leveraging opportunities that emerged during the process aided in shifting institutional and market norms that commonly restrict the ability to embed PPB varieties in the formal seed system. They further demonstrate that distribution through the formal seed system did not limit access through informal networks; instead, it created a ripple effect of stimulating additional, decentralized breeding, and distribution efforts.

Highlights

We explore the experience of an ongoing participatory plant breeding (PPB) project on sweet corn in the United States (US), initiated in 2008 [27,28]
The results are described as three project phases: Section 3.1, actors’ motivations in the initiation of the breeding process; Section 3.2, from breeding to commercialization: the choices to be made; and Section 3.3, project outcomes, impacts, and ongoing Participatory plant breeding (PPB) roles
The current study demonstrates how the adaptive management a PPB product can develop from an agricultural niche novelty into an innovation that is embedded in the broader environment to achieve economies of scale and support the sustainability of a PPB program

Summary

Introduction

The project members had no pre-determined plan to do so and, in retrospect, were not fully aware of the challenges they would encounter to address institutional barriers and navigate the terms of release to achieve the economy of scale for broad commercial access, while simultaneously fostering access and benefit sharing for smaller regional companies and independent farmer-breeders This PPB project was initiated to address organic farmers need for suitable varieties of organic sweet corn seed. These options are not allowed under certified organic crop production This creates two hardships for organic sweet corn farmers: one, they have extremely limited access to varieties that were developed for the very different environmental conditions and management challenges on organic farms; and, two, the inbred parent lines used to produce F1 hybrid varieties often do poorly under organic conditions and, in many cases, are unable to establish a canopy large enough to compete with weeds and produce robust yields. The lack of availability of organically produced seed forces organic sweet corn growers to purchase conventionally produced seed that is not treated with seed treatments after harvest

Methods

Results

Conclusion