ABSTRACT
Within the broad term ‘agrobiodiversity’, the genetic diversity that exists within crops is a component of special importance for humankind, as it is the basis of all our food, feed, fibres and more. Current levels of agrobiodiversity have developed through a combination of natural selection and both intentional and unintentional selection by farmers over millennia – and more recently by professional plant breeders working towards various goals. Seeds and other plant reproductive materials (hereafter included in the word ‘seed’) are the basis of all crop production and genetic resources provide the building blocks of all seed. Seed systems therefore play an important role in determining which types of genetic diversity are used by farmers. Seed systems have been defined as ‘the total of … seed production, selection and exchange activities’ (after Almekinders, 2000, p. 1). This chapter takes a seed systems perspective to analyse the ways that farmers deal with seeds in relation to their maintenance of, use of and contribution to crop genetic diversity. It also analyses how the most important regulatory frameworks influence different seed systems.
