b'SINCE YOU ASKEDBY: NIELS LOUWAARSWHY IS IT (ALMOST) IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE COHERENT POLICIES?Policy making in agriculture is inherently complex. National ministries and the EU-Commission should invest in having sufficient agricultural knowledge themselves. In this picture, Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality Carola Schouten expands her knowledge on the seed sector by participating in the Take A Seed campaign of the Dutch Seed Association PlantumP olicy making is equal to making choicesinnovation objectives have to be combinedety of world views both among producers among goals and interests and oftenin nature, agricultural and industrial policies,and consumers. Europe has long attempted between short and long term intendedand where rights-based approaches (privateto simplify things. The Mansholt doctrine impact. The more complex a policy area, thein WIPO/UPOV, national sovereign inhad a singular goal: food security for the more knowledge is needed to make wiseCBD, and farmers rights in ITPGRFA andcontinent. It (over-)reached its goal leading decisions. Agriculture is a typical area thatmore) only blur the debate. to meat mountains and milk lakes, and at is inherently complex, notably because dif- Also at the more practical level, agri- the same time had significant environmental ferent policy objectives have an impact onculture is a headache for policy makers.setbacks. Currently, agriculture is set against agricultural practice and because biology isAgriculture itself is much more complexenvironmental, nature restoration and many by definition less straightforward than phys- than any manufacturing sectorit producesother goals which makes policy making and ics. One of my own hobbyhorses has beenessential products for human life in a veryregulation a tedious task. Recognizing the the inability to arrive at sensible policiesdiverse way, using a lot of space, impactingbiological, ecological, commercial and (geo)at the global level where conservation andthe environment and is embedded in a vari- political complexities of agriculture requires 42ISEED WORLD EUROPEIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'