Breeding confusion: hybrid seeds and histories of agriculture

Helen Anne Curry

doi:10.1080/03066150.2023.2180357

Breeding confusion: hybrid seeds and histories of agriculture

J Peasant Stud. 2023 Mar 1;50(3):1037-1055. doi: 10.1080/03066150.2023.2180357. eCollection 2023.

Author

Helen Anne Curry^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
² Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Abstract

Since the 1970s 'hybrid seeds' have been linked to many perceived perils of industrialized agriculture. This essay revisits the scholarship that helped produce a dominant critical assessment of hybrid seeds, situating its emergence in a series of events and interventions of the late twentieth century. It explores how the singular history of F1 hybrid corn inflected understandings of crop breeding and seed production in general, contributing to effective political mobilization against agroindustry as well as lasting confusion about the promises and pitfalls of distinct approaches to crop development and the nature of hybrid seeds.

Keywords: biotechnology; genetically modified crops; green revolution; hybrid corn; hybrids; plant breeding; terminator seeds.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Wellcome Trust [Grant number 217968/Z/19/Z]. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.