In the next post in the ongoing blog post series on The Sustainable Seed Innovations Project, Natalie Kopytko, Post-Doctoral Research Associate at University of Leeds shares stories of farmers using traditional methods to store seeds. Laying the Foundation for Innovation Natalie Kopytko A foundation seed is the ‘pure seed stocks grown by or under the supervision of a public agency for use in the production of registered and certified seed’. When it comes to ‘informal’ farmer-level innovation, foundation seed(s) take…

Research Funding for Sustainable Agriculture: A Non-Sustainable State of Affairs (Part II) Julia Köninger[1] Consequences of the Sub-Optimal Research Funding Going into Sustainable Agricultural Systems  The gap in research fund creates a gap in scientific knowledge.[1] Studies have shown, that a major knowledge gap exists especially vis-à-vis the quantification of costs of agricultural production systems, from their environmental, social and health perspective.[2] Further research is needed in the area of eco-functional intensification of agriculture,[3] and also, research on ecosystem services…

In the following two part post in the ongoing blog post series on The Sustainable Seed Innovations Project, Julia Köninger (Technical University Munich) investigated research funds that flow into different farming approaches. The post shows that most fundings currently flow into high-input farming neglecting the sustainability of these practices. It emphasizes the consequent dearth of research for low-input farming and shows the urge to adapt research funds in order to close current knowledge gaps. Research Funding for Sustainable Agriculture: A…

Prong 3: Re-thinking Incentive Structures Blockchain/DLT Supported Incentives for Sustainable Seed Innovations? (Part III) Mrinalini Kochupillai iii) Blockchain/DLT and In Situ Innovations with Agrobiodiversity As discussed in above, three major hurdles that need to be overcome in order to facilitate sustainable seed innovations (especially by small farmers) as well as monetization of sustainable seed  innovations for the benefit of small farmers and their rural communities are: (i) the issue of traceability: the origin of indigenous seeds is rather difficult to trace…

 Prong 3: Re-thinking Incentive Structures Blockchain/DLT Supported Incentives for Sustainable Seed Innovations? (Part II) Mrinalini Kochupillai (i) Digital Ledger Technologies/Blockchain: A Brief Introduction Blockchain technology, a special version of the more generic ‘digital ledger technologies’ (DLTs), came into being around 10 years ago with Satoshi Nakomoto’s white paper on Bitcoin.[1] More recently, these technologies have been in the media, not only because of ongoing efforts of the Indian government to ban cryptocurrencies, but also because several supporters of these technologies…

Prong 3 of the Sustainable Seed Innovations Project comes while India is looking to adopt various blockchain solutions (including blockchain based payment systems) on the one hand, and debating a ban on cryptocurrencies on the other. This three-part blog post (the next in the ongoing blog post series on The Sustainable Seed Innovations Project) provides readers an easy to understand overview of the key beneficial features of blockchain technology, how the potential use cases of blockchain technology go well beyond the…

Prong 2 – Re-Designing Education for Agricultural Students and their Teachers (Part IV) Prof. Gregory Radick Of course, training in genetics is just once facet of farmer education, and training for a more sustainable future will require coordinated changes across the curriculum.[1] As a second, shorter example – but one that will lead us towards Prong 3 of this position paper – considers how farmers might usefully be taught to think in fresh ways about their innovations as their property….

Prong 2 – Re-Designing Education for Agricultural Students and their Teachers (Part III) Prof. Gregory Radick How values acquired in the genetics classroom might translate to farming practice Near the beginning of this position paper we gestured briefly toward some links between Mendelian genetics, with its distinctive emphasis on hybrid seeds, and post-Green-Revolution high-yield, industrially farmed, chemically saturated agriculture.  With the two genetics pedagogies in view, we can now pursue a further question: What, exactly, might the affinities be between…

Prong 2 – Re-Designing Education for Agricultural Students and their Teachers (Part II) Prof. Gregory Radick “Genes, environments, and variability” genetics teaching: There is, fortunately, another way. For some while, PI Radick, as a historian of science, has been re-examining the debate that broke out over Mendel’s experiments after the 1900 rediscovery of his paper on them.[1] The debate was most intense between the Cambridge-based William Bateson, who did more than anyone to promote Mendel’s work as the foundation for…

In the next (four-part) post in the ongoing blog post series on The Sustainable Seed Innovations Project), Prof. Gregory Radick provides an overview of the educationally focused “second prong” of the position paper’s three-prong approach. He discusses the need to redesign elements of agricultural training to ensure a better fit with the goal of greater sustainability, looking in particular at how his historical research into the organization of knowledge in two areas — Mendelian genetics and intellectual property — has…