From Commodification to Conservation: Restoring Agrobiodiversity through Seed Breeding – Part I: 

Editor’s Note: This post is the first in a two-part series about seed breeding. This series will explore the history of seed breeding in the US, the impacts of consolidation and concentration of seed breeding on farmers and our food systems, and what a more democratic seed breeding system might look like. This series was created in collaboration with the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance.

Seeds are an integral underpinning of our food system. Over the past decades we have seen a hyper consolidation of seed systems that has led to a dominant culture of seed commodification. Over time, the consolidation and commodification of seeds has eroded the resilience of our food systems,  diminishing the agrobiodiversity of crops cultivated in the US at an alarming rate.  Support for resilient and diversified seed systems is critical in the upcoming Farm Bill and can also be a…