b'DONT GET BOGGED DOWN WHEN IT COMES TO AG POLICYTHE BEST WAY TO WADE THROUGH THE EFFECT OF POLICY ON AGRICULTURE IS TO LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTURE. BY: ASHLEY ROBINSONW hen it comes to politics, theres a lot of moving parts.have industry representatives around the table. But it is about ensur-Those pieces impact wide swatches of society, includinging that everyone does have a voice.agriculture. Theres a lot to pay attention to, but to makeThe job of politicians isnt to know everything, Klieger says. the biggest impact you should take a step back and look at thePoliticians are meant to make decisions for policy and by doing so whole picture. shape society and impact the lives of people.Understanding how policy is going to impact your businessIts not necessarily their job to understand how a seed business is important. I think that giving that perspective to help ensureworks or understand how long it takes to breed plants or under-that the policy is beneficial to you is critical. But you dont actuallystand the labour implications. And so good politicians are good at need to be an expert on all of this, Michelle Klieger, president oflistening and take the opportunity to hear from their constituents, Stratagerm Consulting, says during a recent episode of Seed Speaks.Klieger adds.I think theres value to being aware. I would be careful how muchWhich is why agriculture education and being willing to time you invest. explain issues to politicians is important. For politicians, they To wade through policy and discover what impacts you and thewant to have people share this information with them so that agriculture industry the most, Klieger suggests following ag sources,they have a better understanding when making policy decisions, news sources, and policy outlooks. She does add its hard to alwaysMacCallum says.understand the connection to ag, which is why it can be helpful toTaking those opportunities when you have them, being read line by line breakdowns of what is being discussed and how itinvolved, and meeting with local officials, and or provincial, national is going to be interpreted. officials, is really important to ensuring that they get that grassroots Most people expect to see that gut reaction of how its goinginformation about how the work that theyre doing is impacting to impact your business, or your life, especially when the intentionthose on the ground, she explains.wasnt for ag. And so the intention was to do (create a policy) that is generally very positive or acceptable. But they didnt think about the impact on ag, Klieger explains.On the politician side of the equation, theres a lot for them to consider when making policy decisions, Phyllis MacCallum, pro-gram manager for AgriLMI and AgriDiversity for the Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Council, says during the episode.Im not sure if its that ag isnt thought of at all in it. But there are a lot of players that have to be considered, she adds. For manyWatch the full conversation at: that we deal with here we do have producers around the table, wehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of1_CvDAVj846ISEED WORLD EUROPEIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'