Celestial ecology : multiple ontologies of plant breeding

Abstract

This study investigates the role that concepts of nature play in contemporary plant breeding practices, primarily in the Wageningen University plant breeding department but also among biodynamic breeders and breeders working for private companies. A Grounded Theory approach seeks first to understand and typify the diverse ways that breeders conceptualize the ontological relationship between humans and plants, and then to relate these concepts to breeding practices and to larger structures of power. Findings reveal that concepts of nature influence practice in explicit and implicit ways.