Resources – Seed-Links

Short Answer Questions

In order to detect if your food contains GMOs, positive and negative controls must be used. Explain what is meant by a positive control experiment and a negative control experiment and why they should be used.
Why do GM detection results only apply to your particular sample?
What are the differences between ex-situ (seed-banks) and in-situ (gene-banks) strategies for seed conservation?
What are the challenges seed banks face today in Spain?
Why do maize cobs need to be covered when regenerating maize seeds?
What does open pollinated variety mean?
What is a hybrid plant and how is it created?
What are the main genetic modifications made in maize crops?
What food is exempt from European GM labelling?
Why do maize grains have to be dried after harvested?
Where does the grinding and refining of commercialised organic maize take place? Why is that?
How does the grain stock market relates to maize?
Why is the influence of the international stock market on maize prices much lower for the agro-ecological web than the other webs?
What are farmers’ cooperatives and why do (some) farmers engage in them?
In what kind of everyday products can we find maize as an ingredient?
What type of actions can influence the maize web? Who engages in these actions?
What are the differences between extensive and intensive livestock farming?
What actors are specifically vulnerable to GM contamination and why?

What visual differences do you notice between the systems? What do they imply?
[Preferably in groups] 1) Draw a maize plant and name its parts. 2) Discuss and draw the different steps in the process of seed regeneration for maize plants.
What are the implications of the lack of public and private investment in R+D for the agro-ecological and organic maize seed sectors? Who and/or what drives R&D investments?
How can GM contamination take place and how might it be avoided?
[Discuss in groups] Explain the process for which maize hybrids plants are produced? What are the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid plants?
What is the difference between heirloom, open pollinated, hybrid and GM seed varieties? What varieties would you choose to plant and why?
What is the difference between how GM farmers and agro-ecological farmers obtain their seeds? What difference does this make?
What are the main traits of the Green Revolution that expanded chemically intensive agriculture? Can the Green Revolution be considered a success?
Is it important to have GM labelling? Why/why not? How does GM labeling work in the European Union?
What is agro-ecology?
What does it mean having an “in-context trajectory” for the assessment of certain technology, such as GM crops?

Compare and contrast the different agri-food webs in terms of their social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Explain the meaning, history and intention of the concept of ‘co-existance’ and the role it plays in the maize agri-food webs.
What does the conventionalisation of organic farming mean and how does organic farming compare with chemically-intensive and agro-ecological webs in light of this concept? .
What is meant by the globalisation of agri-food systems and what impacts has it had?
How have agricultural practices changed over time and what is the significance of this for the goal of achieving sustainable food systems?
Who are the most powerful and influential actors shaping agri-food systems today, and why?
Why has the use of neonicotinoids become especially controversial in recent years? How has the controversy unfolded?
Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the agro-ecological, the certified organic, the chemically intensive and the GM farm.
Do GM technologies have a place in agroecological and certified organic food systems?
What can contribute an care ethics approach to biotech governance?