b'which the only goal is to reduce emissions, sustainability is more complex in my sector as it is also closely linked to biodiversity, animal welfare, retail and the consumer choice. It ranges from animal welfare, production standards (use of plant protection products and fertilizers), to feed and food additives, use of anti-microbials, transport, and processing. ES: CLIMATE CHANGE IS HIGH ON MANY AGENDAS. WILL THE STRATEGY HELP IN MITIGATING SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE?LINS:The strategy calls for a food chain that works for con-sumers, producers, climate and the environment, which clearly shows that one of the goals of the strategy is to minimise the impact of agriculture on climate. This goal needs to have a two-tiered approach: first, we need to reduce the emissions from the agricultural sector, and then we need to find good climate adaption strategies to guarantee our food security in Europe. I welcome the proposal made by the Commission to foster carbon farming and sequestration, as we already see now that agriculture roughly stores what it emits. By introducing a pri-vate investment scheme for carbon farming, this would allow farmers a new income scheme which they can then re-invest in climate adaption measures, innovation, new technologies and more sustainable productions matters. One aspect of ensuring our food production in Europe would also be to make them more regional, without undermin-ing the internal market or international trade, but by being more cautious of where our food comes from. This would also auto-matically reduce GHG emissions from transport. Another important aspect of mitigating our climate input is the question of methane. Rather than only looking at reducing meat production and consumption, Id prefer a holistic approach that recognises that animals are a core part of European agri-culture. We need to invest in new feed and intelligent barns for example. As European Parliament, we will make sure that the Farm to Fork Strategy will set such incentives for more innovationNorbert Linsand digitisation. ES: NOT ALL FARMERS WILL BE ABLE TO AFFORD THE REQUIRED CHANGES. HOW CAN THEY BE STIMULATED TO MAKE THE NECESSARY CHANGES?the success of strategies LINS:As I said in the beginning, this strategy and the biodi-versity strategy will only be a success if farmers voices aredepends on their acceptance heard and included. In my experience, the success of strategies depends on their acceptance by those who have to implementby those who have to them, thus we better focus on incentives rather than obligations.implement them, thus we And this, unfortunately, will not be easy, as on top the COVID-19 pandemic strikes at a sensitive moment, just whenbetter focus on incentives a reduced CAP budget collides with the greater environmen-tal and climate ambition envisaged in the CAP post 2020 andrather than obligations.the goals for the green transition set out in the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies, which all require additional financ-ing. The new budget of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should have taken that into account and should have provided more money for farmers. But I put a lot of hope in the new carbonlivestock sector. Thus, the role of the European seed sector is farming. Thats why I have pushed to make the money from thecrucial. The seed sector is one of the most innovative sectors Recovery funds available as soon as possible for the farmers.in agriculture and if we want to achieve the new targets, we depend on the innovative ideas and new breeding techniques ES: WHAT ROLE CAN THERE BE FOR EUROPES SEEDas without them it wont be possible to reduce for example 50% SECTOR? of plant protection products while still having healthy plants. LINS:Seeds are quite literally the essence of agricultural prod- The agricultural sectors needs plants that are resistant to pests ucts - whether they become food for consumers, or feed for ourand adapted to climate change, which means that we need new 12IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'