Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Club Apple Society: What this New Economic Organization Says About The Biology of Markets

生物科学和市场营销的新发展正在改变人与植物之间的关系。尽管植物早已被培育并获得专利，而且近几年来垂直整合的科学-经济系统也在发展壮大，但新的经济组织形式正在重塑这些关系。越来越多的小规模生产者正在重组生物和经济系统，以专利和保护植物品种，并管理它们的经济分配。通过对被称为俱乐部苹果的专利苹果品种的研究，该项目研究了这种新的经济和生物安排的原因和动态。俱乐部苹果通常由育种者开发并由一群种植者管理，并与计划中的营销策略和许可证相关联，这些策略和许可证限制了可以种植的树木数量。通过考虑俱乐部苹果如何以及为什么在种植者中流行，以及对植物和果园经济的影响，这项研究提供了关于新兴经济-生物学实践的新知识，这些实践可能会越来越普遍和标准化。通过对种植者、育种者、加工商和零售商的采访，以及对专利和行业杂志等文本材料的分析，以及对行业会议的观察，收集了证据。这项研究更广泛的理论意义在于，它对研究经济-科学混合实践的制度化和非制度化做出了贡献。研究成果通过会议报告、学术期刊出版物、一篇论文和一本书，以及公众可以访问的博客amazingapples.blogpot.com进行传播。调查结果也被分发给俱乐部的苹果园老板。这一传播计划为科学和市场的学术分析师提供了有价值的结果，同时也让种植者和普通消费者参与到关于俱乐部和当代农业实践的对话中。

New developments in the biological sciences and in marketing are transforming relationships between people and plants. Although plants have long been bred and patented, and vertically integrated science-economic systems have grown in recent years, new forms of economic organization are reshaping these relationships. Increasingly, small-scale producers are re-organizing biological and economic systems to patent and protect plant varieties and manage their economic distribution. Through a study of patented apple varieties called club apples, this project examines the causes and dynamics of this new set of economic and biological arrangements. Club apples are often developed by breeders and managed by a group of growers, and associated with planned marketing strategies and licenses that restrict the number of trees that can be planted. By considering how and why club apples have become popular among growers, and with what consequences for plants and orchard economies, this study provides new knowledge about emergent economic-biological practices that may be increasingly common and standardized. Evidence is gathered through interviews with growers, breeders, processors and retailers, and through analysis of textual materials, such as patents and industry magazines, and observation of industry conferences. The broader theoretical importance of this study is its contribution to research on the institutionalization and deinstitutionalization of hybrid economic-science practices. Research findings are disseminated through conference presentations, academic journal publications, a dissertation, and a book, and on a blog, amazingapples.blogspot.com that is accessible to publics. Findings are also disseminated to club apple orchardists. This dissemination plan provides results of value to academic analysts of science and markets, while also engaging growers and a general consumer public in conversations about clubs and contemporary farming practices.