Seed sovereignty and globalisation

Abstract

This chapter begins by distinguishing between the concepts of food security, or access to sufficient food to eat, and food sovereignty, or the right to choose which food to eat. It then distinguishes between the concepts of seed security, or an adequate supply of seed for cultivation, and seed sovereignty, meaning the farmers’ right to choose which seeds to sow, share and save. It discusses a number of threats to seed sovereignty from the process of globalisation, including climate change, changes to farming practice, transnational corporations and philanthrocapitalist organisations. It then applies hyperglobalist, sceptical, and transformational approaches to the study of how globalisation has affected seed sovereignty.