Abstract
There is a strong need to connect agricultural research to social movements and community-based food system reform efforts. Participatory research methods are a powerful tool, increasingly used to give voice to communities overlooked by academia or marginalized in the broader food system. Plant breeding, as a field of research and practice, is uniquely well-suited to participatory project designs, since the basic process of observing and selecting plants for desirable traits is accessible to participants without formal plant breeding training. The challenge for plant breeders engaged in participatory research is to consider not only how their work incorporates farmer input in developing new varieties, but also how it interacts with broader questions of food sovereignty, food justice, diversity and democratization in the food system. This article examines these issues in the context of the Seed to Kitchen Collaborative, a participatory variety evaluation and breeding project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the SKC participants and the seed sovereignty and food justice organizations that the SKC interacts with for their energy, dedication and hard work. This paper would not have been possible without the many discussions we have had with all of you. We would also like to thank the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the USDA North Central SARE Program and the Ceres Trust for funding that has supported the Seed to Kitchen Collaborative.
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Healy, G.K., Dawson, J.C. Participatory plant breeding and social change in the Midwestern United States: perspectives from the Seed to Kitchen Collaborative. Agric Hum Values 36, 879–889 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-019-09973-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-019-09973-8