Commoning the seeds: alternative models of collective action and open innovation within French peasant seed groups for r
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Commoning the seeds: alternative models of collective action and open innovation within French peasant seed groups for recreating local knowledge commons Armelle Mazé1,3 · Aida Calabuig Domenech1 · Isabelle Goldringer2 Accepted: 9 October 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract In this article, we expand the analytical and theoretical foundations of the study of knowledge commons in the context of more classical agrarian commons, such as seed commons. We show that it is possible to overcome a number of criticisms of earlier work by Ostrom (Governing the commons. The evolution of institutions for collective action, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990) on natural commons and its excludability/rivalry matrix in addressing the inclusive social practices of “commoning”, defined as a way of living and acting for the preservation of the commons. Our empirical analysis emphasizes, using the most recent advances in the IAD/SES framework, the distributed and collaborative knowledge governance in a French peasant seed network as a key driver for reintroducing cultivated agrobiodiversity and on-farm seed conservation of ancient and landrace varieties. These inclusive peasant seed groups developed alternative peer-to-peer models of collaborative peasant-led community-based breeding and grassroots innovations in the search for more resilient population varieties. Our results highlight the various models of collective action within the network and discuss the organizational tradeoffs of opting out of peasant seed activities and recreating a shared collective knowledge base on the benefits of restoring cultivated agrobiodiversity. It helps us better understand how modern peasant seed groups function as epistemic communities which contributes to envisioning alternative agricultural systems. Keywords IAD/SES · Peer-to-peer production · Participatory plant breeding · Knowledge economy · Innovation · Institutional economics · Seed commons
Introduction In the European context, peasant seed networks first emerged as a political movement in reaction to the private appropriation of crop genetic diversity by an increasingly concentrated global seed industry and as a means to foster the autonomy of peasants with regard to seed access (Bocci and Chable 2008; Demeulenaere 2014, 2018). 1 Facing restrictive seed laws prohibiting the marketing (including * Armelle Mazé [email protected] 1
Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, UMR SADAPT, 75005 Paris, France
2
Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, CNRS, AgroParisTech, GQE - Le Moulon, 91190 Gif‑Sur‑Yvette, France
3
INRAE UMR SADAPT, 16 rue Claude Bernard, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
the free exchange) of noncertified peasant seeds and a blatant lack of research on hardier and more resilient seed varieties for low input or organic farming systems, these networks also developed innovative strategies, including experimentation and research activities allowed under the seed legislation,2 in their search for landraces and ancient varieties
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