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National organizations and management tools for genetic improvement of dairy cattle: a comparison between France, Ireland and The Netherlands

Organisations nationales et instruments de gestion de l’amélioration génétique des bovins laitiers : une comparaison entre la France, l’Irlande et les Pays-Bas

Abstract : Since the early 2000s, the development of genomics provides extensive knowledge of the DNA of living organisms. This innovation has transformed the way in which living organisms are evaluated, selected (genomic selection of plants and animals) and marketed. Coupled with political and regulatory changes, this technology contributes to modify the national institutional arrangements in the field of animal genetic improvement as well as actors' practices. The current liberalization process questions both the collective dimension of genetic progress and the property rights of genetic resources. The objective of this overview is to present the plurality of institutional arrangements regarding genomic selection of the Holstein cattle breed in a comparative perspective involving France, Ireland and The Netherlands. First, it highlights three institutional regimes that reveal different arrangements particularly between public and private organizations. Then, this diversity of arrangements is completed by an analysis of contractual tools developed between breeding companies and animal breeders through models of strategies aiming at the production and exchanges of genetic resources (under their biological and informational forms). These models emphasize various forms of property of genetic resources between companies and breeders and also show that the actors' roles in genetic selection activities are redefined. These results provide a better understanding of the development of a liberal logic (in The Netherlands) in duality with the reinforcement (in Ireland) or weakening (in France) of a cooperative logic for the production of improved animal genetics.