Securing Commitments from Stakeholders in 10 EU Member States—The Organic Seed Declaration to Foster Stakeholder Involvement

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In my opinion this research paper contains significant information that justify publication, with minor revision regarding the following issues:

 

 

1.     Introduction

The content is succinctly described and contextualized with respect to previous and present theoretical background on the topic and supported by relevant references on the topic.

To review: In this section, the main objectives of the work must be presented in a clear and organized way. Information is scattered in the text.

 

2.       Materials and Methods

The methodology used is appropriate and adjusted to the objectives of this work and it was presented with detail.

 

3.       Results

L197 – the authors presents a ranged number of participants per national workshop, in order to clarified the results obtained (namely results presented in Figure 1) and to support the discussion, authors should present the participants per country and the composition of stakeholders per country. The statistical distribution of type of stakeholders will support the analysis presented and clarified the differences presented between countries involved in the study.

 L298 – L300 – In line 298 the authors compared Italy with Latvia, discriminating the main aspects, then, along the comparison in L300 addressed to Estonia. This is not perceptible. Please clarify this aspect.

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you very much for your review.

To point 1:

The objectives have been worked out to be more clear. Additionally, more background is given on why there is a high need to involve all actors to develop the organic seed sector. See paragraph:

To reach the aim of 100% organic plant reproductive material (organic PRM) for all crop species grown on organic farms in the EU, there is a high need to mobilize everyone involved – directly or indirectly – in the production and use of organic PRM, i.e., organic farmers and seed producers, control bodies, seed authorities, national authorities, and researchers. Past analysis [3] showed that implementing individual measures can increase organic seed supply, but this did not directly lead to a reduction of derogation on the use of non-organic seed. A complex set of various factors affect farmers' use of organic or non-organic seeds, with strong regional differences across Europe [4]. Aspects that impact organic seed use by farmers are ranging from, e.g. availability of suitable cultivars, marketing strategy of the organic product, and time since the farm converted to organic production. Thus [4] (p. 11) concludes, that “if derogations for the use of untreated non-organic seed are to be phased out by 2036, the issue of seed use needs to be more widely addressed, beyond the short and specialized organic supply chains”. Therefore, the instrument of a voluntary seed declaration was proposed – a concept based on voluntary commitments from all actors involved as a tool to initiate bottom-up processes, especially in countries with a poorly developed seed sector. According to [6] (p. 555) commitments are defined as “agreements between two or more social actors to carry out future actions”. 

To point 2:

Material and Methods: a paragraph on limitations was added: 

However, the high diversity of organizational structures and differences between each country limits the ability to directly compare the commitments and draw common conclusions. The presented paper focuses on the analysis of the theoretical concept that voluntary commitments can lead to an increase in stakeholder involvement which then indirectly leads to an increase in organic seed supply and use. The possibility of an extensive country-wise analysis is limited, as this would leave out the individuality of each country.

To point 3:

The number of participants per workshop and the type of stakeholder were added (including a figure to illustrate the details).

Text: 

The number of participants per national workshop varied per country, with the lowest number of participants reported in Estonia (4) and the highest number in Italy (61). Figure 2 illustrates the composition and number of stakeholders per country. Individuals who solely participated in the workshop for facilitation reasons were excluded from figure2. Stakeholders were grouped into five categories: (i) authorities (e.g., national ministry, regional ministry, seed database manager, seed certification authority, control body); (ii) research & breeding (e.g., researcher from university or breeding institutes, breeding organization); (iii) seed supply (e.g., seed producer, seed trader, seed associations, seed banks, seed saver); (iv) seed use (e.g., farmer, farming associations, farm advisors) and (v) others (e.g. food trader, civil society organizations, journalists, industrial investors). Actors covering more than one group, e.g. organic farmer that also produces organic seed for retail, were grouped to their main focus of activities. All stakeholders who participated in the workshops joined the invitation organizer. In the set-up of the workshop, it was envisaged to ensure a balanced composition between stakeholders, except for the stakeholder group “others”. Depending on the organizational structure of each country and responses by invited actors, a balanced composition of stakeholders was not always reachable. With higher representation from the authorities (e.g., Italy), research & breeding (e.g., Hungary), the seed sector (e.g., Spain), or farmers (e.g., Greece) were recorded in the other workshops.

To " L298 – L300 – In line 298 the authors compared Italy with Latvia, discriminating the main aspects, then, along the comparison in L300 addressed to Estonia. This is not perceptible. Please clarify this aspect."

Another aspect of consideration is the limited comparability of countries. For instance, at the time of the national workshop, Italy and Latvia already had an established organic seed expert group. Both countries committed to expand the functions and membership of the expert group. Estonia committed to the more complex task of establishing an expert group that did not exist before. 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

add application of study 

pictures of sample taken missing 

dont use short forms in keywords 

remove use personal wording such as we. our, etc

keep fig and table captions short 

no appendix, keep as major figure and tables only 

remove undelines 

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you very much for your review.

To your points: 

add application of study - clarified

pictures of sample taken missing - do you mean pictures from the workshops? I am not sure if I understand the feedback correctly. 

dont use short forms in keywords - clarified

remove use personal wording such as we. our, etc - clarified

keep fig and table captions short - clarified

no appendix, keep as major figure and tables only - table from appendix moved to main text

remove undelines - clarified

Reviewer 3 Report

 

This contribution presents and discusses the potential of the use of 100% organic plant reproductive matarial in organic farming by 2036 in the EU as mandatory, targeted by new European organic regulation 2018/848. At present, achieving this goal is difficult, and therefore there is a high need to increase organic seed supply by promoting the development of the organic seed sector in Europe. This paper presents a conceptual framework to gain voluntary stakeholder involvement in the process of gradual increase in the supply of organic seeds for organic farming by promoting the development of the organic seed sector in Europe. The work has application potential, resulting from the possibility of using the concept of involvement of stakeholders interested in the development of organic seed sector in EU, especially in countries with a purly developed seed sector.

Overall, I found this study very interesting and I have no many comments on the manuscript. My main concern is the methodological issue of sourcing data for analyses. Due to the diverse composition of voluntary groups from individual countries, it is difficult to compare their situation and formulate common conclusions. However, I think that the initiative was appropriate and the use of voluntary commitments should be continued, as it has been noted, they may be a complementary tool to solutions at the government level in terms of achieving 100% organic seeds in organic farming.

In my opinion manuscript is quite good written, has a clear structure and brings interesting and valuable solutions to promote the development of the organic seed sector i EU.

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you very much for your review.

To your point: 

Overall, I found this study very interesting and I have no many comments on the manuscript. My main concern is the methodological issue of sourcing data for analyses. Due to the diverse composition of voluntary groups from individual countries, it is difficult to compare their situation and formulate common conclusions. However, I think that the initiative was appropriate and the use of voluntary commitments should be continued, as it has been noted, they may be a complementary tool to solutions at the government level in terms of achieving 100% organic seeds in organic farming.

A paragraph on limitations and some further clarifications in the text are added. 

paragraph added:

However, the high diversity of organizational structures and differences between each country limits the ability to directly compare the commitments and draw common conclusions. The presented paper focuses on the analysis of the theoretical concept that voluntary commitments can lead to an increase in stakeholder involvement which then indirectly leads to an increase in organic seed supply and use. The possibility of an extensive country-wise analysis is limited, as this would leave out the individuality of each country.

Further clarifications in the text. 

 

Reviewer 4 Report

Dear authors,

This is research of great relevance. Congratulations. The subject of seeds is, literally, at the origins of the food system and, therefore, at the basis of society's wellbeing and survival. The paper is mostly descriptive and presents the project that is at its base. It is important to introduce a more analytical approach and avoid presenting all the details of the project. This is the most problematic aspect of this paper. It is like a summary of the project and it is not supposed to be like that.

All the best.

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you very much for your review.

To your point: This is research of great relevance. Congratulations. The subject of seeds is, literally, at the origins of the food system and, therefore, at the basis of society's wellbeing and survival. The paper is mostly descriptive and presents the project that is at its base. It is important to introduce a more analytical approach and avoid presenting all the details of the project. This is the most problematic aspect of this paper. It is like a summary of the project and it is not supposed to be like that.

The manuscript was partly adapted to reduce the "project-report style". In detail: the project name LIVESEED was deleted in several paragraphs. A limitation section was added to the material and method part. 

In the results a whole paragraph and a figure on the number of participants and the type of stakeholder was added.

 

Reviewer 5 Report

The article is theoretical, all requirements are met. Only it could be supplemented with LIMITATIONS sections.

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your review.

Your comment: The article is theoretical, all requirements are met. Only it could be supplemented with LIMITATIONS sections.

The limitations section was added to the text. And according to the other reviewers, some justifications and clarifications were implemented. 

Round 2

Reviewer 4 Report

Dear authors,

Now the paper is much more analytical and clear. Congratulations for the research. As previously mentioned this is a very important topic.