Badstue et al. (2006), in their pioneering application of the Ostromian framework to farmer seed networks (i.e., local seed supply systems), concluded that there was no clear operationalization of collective action in respect of the exchange of seeds. They observed only the presence of “more informal institutions with rules that are not predetermined and that adjust to contingencies,” or what they termed “fuzzy” rules (Badstue et al., 2006, p. 268; see also Garine et al., 2018).
These findings challenge certain assumptions of the commons framework. Farmers in centers of diversity do not operate from a maximizing or productivist rationality, nor do they always make intentional, deliberate decisions regarding the maintenance, selection, and access to the diverse seeds circulating within networks. Instead, along a spectrum from “default intentionality” to “conscious intentionality” (Almekinders et al., 2019, p. 122), small-scale farmers “do not typically choose agrobiodiversity for its own sake but rather because it aligns with underlying farming rationales or trait preferences” (Almekinders et al., 2019, p. 122). As Toledo (1990, p. 55-56) explains, intentionality is evident in the manipulation of ecological components and processes, where farmers, motivated by subsistence, “play the game of survival.”
Moreover, as said, there is no formal coordination of collective action; at most, there exists a “diffuse” institutionalization shaped by pre-existing social structures.
We consider that “[i]n many subsistence societies, the primary reasons for maintaining agrobiodiversity are not market-driven or due to environmental pressures but rather rooted in non-monetary, culturally specific factors” (Howard, 2010, p. 163). This suggests a strong biocultural link between social institutions, cultural practices, and biological diversity, advocating for a “biocultural” approach to the seed commons (Girard et al., 2022). This approach posits that seed exchange systems are sustained only when the triptych of “territory, cultural identity, and local institutions-vernacular rights” is preserved.
