Page 86 - Breeding and regulatory opportunities, Renaud

Chapter 3

3.2 Methodology

The case material to support this research was collected from mid- 2007

through 2013. The description of the US organic seed sector builds on Renaud

et al. (2014), which ofers an in-depth analysis of the development of the sector.

The US study was initiated by identiication of stakeholder categories, the key

stakeholders within each category, and the interests afected directly and

indirectly by the evolving organic seed regulation (Reed et al., 2009). Interviews

were conducted with individuals drawn from each stakeholder category to

explore stakeholders’ perceptions of the draft organic seed regulation, their

respective role in the process, and their perceptions of opportunities for or

constraints to regulatory development. Seventy-four in-depth interviews

(Kvale, 1996) with individuals and representatives of organizations, identiied by

their high level of inluence within each stakeholder category, were conducted.

The stakeholder categories identiied were organic certiiers (n=8), organic

growers (n=40), organic food buyers (n=5), representatives of formal seed

companies involved in organic and/or conventional seed production (n=10),

administrative personnel (n=5), and non-proit organization representatives

(n=6) with inluence. The information from the interviews was recorded and

analysed manually by means of qualitative analysis, by applying content

analysis (Patton, 1980), and discourse analysis (Krippendorf, 2004). The

indings from these analyses are presented here in narrative form, in order to

reveal the unfolding processes and interests that are shaping the emergent

regulatory outcomes in each case.

The material for analysis of the organic seed sector in the EU (drawing on Döring

et al., 2012) and in Mexico is based also on interviews with selected stakeholders

in the organic seed sector (in the EU, n=12; and in Mexico, n=15), who were

identiied through similar though less rigorous procedures as those outlined

above for the US study. In all three jurisdictions, the respondents were asked

to provide their perspectives on their respective organic seed regulations, and

in the case of Mexico, also on the organic seed regulations in the country to

which they export organic product. Responses were provided both in narrative

form and, for speciic questions, also on a rank order. The questions included:

(1) What are the primary motivations for you(r) organization to support the

development of the organic seed sector? Ranking options here were: ecological

seed production, inancial, farmer livelihood, biodiversity (genetic), imminent

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