Network analysis of organic seed systems: a systems-level analysis for resilience

View the project final report

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: decision support system, focus group, networking, other
• Production Systems: organic agriculture
• Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, partnerships, public policy, social capital, social networks, sustainability measures

The conventional seed system in the US is ill-fitted to meet the goals of sustainable agriculture, as it disempowers stakeholders outside of the dominant firms, limits diversity, and perpetuates the use of chemical inputs. The organic seed sector, on the other hand, is a fledging system with potential to bolster sustainable production. However, seed systems are complex networks that rely on coordination of information and resources across multiple stakeholders and scales, and we have a limited systems-level understanding. To address this gap, our project asks:

Q1: How do organic seed stakeholders define resilience for the system, and what are the needs and priorities of each sector?

Q2: What are the structures of two co-occurring networks (knowledge and supply chain) in the organic seed system?

Q3: What can the network structure tell us about resilience of the seed system and management interventions?

To answer these questions, our team surveyed over 500 seed stakeholders -- organic seed producers, companies, researchers, and organizations. These surveys were used to inform the State of Organic Seed Report (2022) and were presented at Organic Seed Growers Conference (2022). Academic manuscripts describing these results are in preparation.

Objective 1: Survey 500+ stakeholders in the organic seed value chain (seed producers, seed companies, seed-related organizations, and Principle Investigators of breeding projects) to define a “resilient” seed system, identify needs and priorities in their respective sector, and inform measures for social network analysis (Completed: Summer 2020-Summer 2022).

Objective 2: Analyze survey results to create a mental model of how stakeholders in the organic seed value chain define “resilience” for the seed system, and develop two types of networks related to the organic seed value chain – knowledge networks and supply chain networks (Completed: December 2022)

Objective 3: Present preliminary network analysis results with seed system stakeholders at the National Organic Seed Growers Conference (2022) to seek stakeholder input on desired management tools and future interventions (Completed: February 2022).

Objective 4: Publish and present the final report and accompanying resources in coordination with Organic Seed Alliance via the State of Organic Seed Report (2022) (Completed: March 2022).

Objective 5: Publish results in academic journals for agri-environmental governance (In progress).