AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO PLANT HEALTH: THE PROCEDURAL CONCEPT APPLIED TO COMMON BEAN SEED SYSTEMS

Pathogen-free seed is one strategy to protect plants and prevent the introduction and spread of dangerous pests. While this strategy reduces damage to crops and delays the global spread of pathogens, it may also be regarded as an overly reductionist approach to plant health disfavoring the resilience of cropping systems. Rather than defining plant health as an objective entity, a procedural concept consisting of a set of rules for debate in order to incorporate different viewpoints on the continua between naturalist and normativist approaches, negative and positive definitions, reductionism and holism and functionality and resilience has been proposed. In the ongoing research project presented here, the questions suggested are applied to the case of common bean seed produced by small-scale organic seed producers in Western Europe.