Data & the Seed: From Extractive Epistemology to Emancipating Agrobiodiversity Research Methods

This article emerges from a collaborative, cross-regional project to imagine and embody emancipatory research methods for agrobiodiversity practice and policy. The goal of emancipatory research–counteracting projects that extract data and time from communities–is intentionally aspirational. We analyze practices of extractive research and data collection and how it has shaped current agrobiodiversity research and governance. We argue that egalitarian research is needed for equitable policies, practices, and governance. Thus, we ask: What would this entail methodologically? What role does data—both as process and product—play in fostering either emancipatory or extractive outcomes, particularly in the context of agrobiodiversity research? By dialoguing with methods of community-based, practitioner-led, and decolonial research, this essay centers opportunities and pathways to advance more egalitarian, democratic, and emancipatory research and governance methodologies. We center the case of our own multi-year grant pursuit with community-leaders and practitioners across the Appalachian US, Yucatan Mexico, and Andean Peru, to detail challenges and outcomes for potential egalitarian research processes and goals related to agrobiodiversity scholarship and governance.