Seeds are essential elements within agricultural production and food systems. However, seed systems face multiple issues, including processes of commercialisation, privatisation, and crop diversity loss, that require reconsidering current approaches to seeds and varieties. Seed initiatives hold a potential to contribute to alternative and desirable seed system configurations and outcomes. In this thesis, I analyse how existing seed initiatives increase their impact, drawing on the typology of amplification processes by Lam et al. (2020). Furthermore, due to the long-term occurrence of variety losses and the complexity of the processes involved, this thesis uses system dynamics concepts and diagramming tools to map the use of local varieties from the initiatives’ perceptions. Thereby, I attempt to operationalise amplification, depict local variety use, and combine the two approaches within the context of seed initiatives. I employ a case-study approach in Italy and conducted semi-structured interviews with members of six seed initiatives. Concrete actions for almost all the frameworks’ processes were found. Building stability, influencing values and mindsets, and strategically impacting higher institutional levels emerged as suitable ways to amplify and might indicate that initiatives prepare and potentially navigate change. Enhancing the initiatives’ impact range and speed benefitted from more nuance due to diverging notions on these processes. A qualitative systems diagram with social and ecological components maps causal structures that influence the use of local varieties, showing a potential for desirable dynamics. By indicating how amplifying actions relate to the system structure, I illustrate how the seed initiatives are influencing multiple system parts. Thus, the system maps revealed perceived system structure, which by itself might run the risk of portraying path dependency, while amplification relates to agency on how initiatives might influence the system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-206762 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Voigt, Franca Josefa |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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