b'More than justspinach and grassesA CLOSER LOOK AT THE DANISH SEED SECTOR.BY: MARCEL BRUINSWHY IT MATTERS W ith its temperate climate, plenty of rain, a flat landscape and fertile soils, Denmark With a populationboasts ideal conditions for agriculture. Of of only 5.7 millionDenmarks 4.3 million hectares, 61% is cultivated. inhabitants, DenmarkFarms are large, with an average size of 70 ha. and manages to produceover 20% of the farms exceeding 100 ha of land. enough food to feedDanish agriculture is considered to be among the 15 million people,most efficient and knowledge based agricultural highlighting the highclusters in the world. A high level of education productivity of theand organisation, embodied in the Danish co-op-Danish agriculturalerative movement, as well as internal competition production. A well- and demand from consumers and export markets functioning seedare key factors to this success. European Seed sector and highwanted to know more about the seed sector and yielding crops aresat down with Nils Elmegaard, Secretary-General at the basis of thisin both the Danish Seed Council and the Danish feat. But what makesSeed Association and with Claus Saabye Erichsen, the seed sector soTeam Manager at Variety Denmark.successful? MORE THAN ONE ASSOCIATIONThe Danish Seed Council is a private organisa-tion with only two members: the Danish Seed Association (which is the amalgamation of Danish Seed Trade Association and Danish Horticultural Seed Association) and the Danish Seed GrowersNils ElmegaardAssociation. The Danish Seed Council is an umbrella organisation covering grass seed, clover seed, vegetables seed (mainly spinach seed) and beet seed (mainly sugar beets). Main activities of the members are: breeding, multiplication and trade. The secretariat is funded by a levy (0.2 % of the final settlement) paid by the seed growers and collected by the companies in accordance with a sector agreement, Elmegaard says. The secretar-iat is comprised of Elmegaard with some additional help on bookkeeping. The Danish Seed Council is a member ofand the secretariat is placed inthe Danish Agricultural and Food Council, which is the major organisation for farmers and their co-ops in Denmark.According to Elmegaard, the major advan-tage with this construction is that we have seed growers and seed companies around the same table, and we are therefore able to pursue the same targets: political, legal framework, research and development, statistical. The sector itself con-tains quite few people and we have many activ-ities/meetings where issues are discussed in an informal manner. He adds that this makes deci-sion making easier when you realise that you haveClaus Saabye Erichsencommon goals. Issues concerning market shares/52IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'