Page 221 - Breeding and regulatory opportunities, Renaud

General Discussion

6.3 Discussion of research indings

The ive propositions introduced at the beginning of this chapter are now

discussed in light of the research indings and relevant literature.

6.3.1 Regulatory clarity is the foundation for organic seed sector

development

This study brought to light the dilemma that organic regulation can help to

push the sector toward 100% organic seed usage, and support the values of

organic agriculture, but also that organic seed regulation can limit the available

assortment of cultivars at least in the short term. Seed company representatives

argue that, given the current ambiguity in the US in the organic seed regulation,

there are economic restrictions to the number of cultivars that can be included

in a company’s portfolio of certiied organic seed. In the US, growers do not want

their varietal assortment options limited through strict regulatory enforcement.

They claim that biodiversity (both broader genetic background and cultivar

diversity) is an important component within management practices to enhance

stability and resilience in an organic agricultural system. Organic growers would

rather have cultivars suited to their management system than adapt their

management to cultivars. Under the IFOAM principles of organic agriculture

this is expressed in the Principle of Ecology (Organic Agriculture should be

based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them

and help sustain them, see Table 1.1 in Chapter 1 (IFOAM, 2012). The interviews

in this study also indicated that smaller-scale direct market growers tend to

grow a larger range of crop species and are searching for a larger diversity of

cultivars within each species to distinguish themselves in the market. Large-

scale growers grew a more limited number of crops and wanted access to the

same cultivars as their conventional counterparts to adhere to the same strict

market product conformities. Overall, the diversity of growers’ interests calls for

making available a wide diversity of cultivars. A consideration for the evolution

of the organic seed regulatory environment is how to attain a balance between

stimulating growers to use organic seed without too strictly forcing limitations

on the diversity of the crops/varieties they use.

This study demonstrated that the full potential of an optimized organic seed

sector cannot be realized without enhanced regulatory stipulations but also

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