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Plant breeding and social rationality: The unintended effects of the release of a lupino seed (Lupinus mutabilis Sweet) in Ecuador

Abstract:

This Article looks at how the generation of a cultivar may have unintended results forged as a plant breeding project is conceived and organized. Specifically, we investigate how a social rationality immersed in the scientific programs of modern agriculture guided the design of a new cultivar of lupine (Lupinus mutabilis Sweet), wherein which other seeds, rationales, spaces and actors were excluded. To develop this argument, we employ two methodological premises: Cultivars can be understood as technological objects, and artefacts cannot be understood individually, since they are part of an integrated system.