“Wanted! Ottoman Strawberry”: discursive practices of heirloom seeds in Turkey

Heirloom seeds have been an oft-discussed subject in Turkey recently, especially since the introduction of a law that forbid selling of non-certified seeds in 2006, and a new by-law that passed in 2018. As material-semiotic actors, heirloom seeds are cherished both by proponents of ecological diversity who are mostly considered on the left of the political spectrum, and by nationalists and purists who are opposed to importing hybrid seeds from Israeli companies for reasons of purity and national self-sufficiency. Both parties agree on their interest in non-GMO, organic agriculture practices, yet they have different motivations for desirability of the seeds themselves, and what they represent. As such, heirloom seeds stand in the discursive junction of nationalism, ecological diversity, sustainable agriculture, and food security. This research is an analysis of the discourses of the main actors involved in agricultural policies (e.g. Ministry of Agriculture, Chamber of Agricultural Engineers, Turkey Seed Growers Association, Farmers Union, and environmental organizations). These actors engage in different kinds of knowledge production about heirloom seeds through their discursive practices, affecting the growing, purchasing, and exchange of the seeds in question. With an aim to reveal the continuities and conflicts in the discourse on heirloom seeds, we argue that heirloom seed is a site for resistance for good relations between human and more-than-human worlds, even though there is a strong tendency to co-opt it for industrial agriculture controlled with certification and patents.