First the Seed: The Political Economy of Plant Biotechnology

by Jack R. Kloppenburg

First the Seed spotlights the history of plant breeding and shows how efforts to control the seed have shaped the emergence of the agricultural biotechnology industry. This second edition of a classic work in the political economy of science includes an extensive, new chapter updating the analysis to include the most recent developments in the struggle over the direction of crop genetic engineering.

1988 Cloth, 1990 Paperback, Cambridge University Press
Winner of the Theodore Saloutos Award of the Agricultural History Society
Winner of the Robert K. Merton Award of the American Sociological Association

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Environment

425 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 1988

Reviews

[Anna Groover · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars.

Read this for my capitalism and nature class. I really enjoyed the first half of the book--the history behind agriculture and seed proliferation is fascinating and an entirely hidden history that we often don't think about. I got a little bit bored with the second half of the book; it was mostly the recent history of biotechnology patents and developments, a lot of which I was already familiar with thanks to my high school biology class's big focus on biotech (we did an entire month on it!).

At the end of the day, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I applied to college as a biotechnology major; First the Seed made me thankful I did not stick with that.

[Zack Anchors · Rating 3 out of 5]

Argument: "the agricultural plant sciences have over time become increasingly subordinated to capital and . . . this ongoing process has shaped both the content of research and, necessarily, the character of its products" (8).

[Sarah]

Rec'd by Anna Cates

[Will Connelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great research, very boring read. Pray you never get assigned this book by a professor.

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5ish honestly, but the content was great so it was rounded up. A dense but interesting read. Probably would have been much more enjoyable if I didn't have to shotgun it over 3 days for class.