Los bancos de semillas: entre la preservación y la apropiación de recursos naturales. El acceso a los recursos fitogenéticos en la Argentina

Over the last decades seed banks have become highly relevant in the field of agriculture and alimentation. Although these institutions were under-considered by social sciences, seed banks are key institutions related to the use and conservation of natural resources. In this paper they are analyzed from a qualitative approach, that combines both deeply interviews with seed banks referents in Argentina -a country with an economy fundamentally based on agriculture-, and documentation sources, among others. We will investigate how the main legal norms and international agreements were developed, their impact on Argentina and how plant genetic resources conservation mechanisms have evolved in the country, with the purpose of analyzing how a normative and institutional frame over plant genetic resources was shaped in Argentina