b'SINCE YOU ASKEDBY: NIELS LOUWAARSIS COVID-19 A BLESSINGIN DISGUISE?T he world is changing rapidly. WithOur globally operating sector will be his America First Trump paved theseriously affected by the changing views way to question free trade in theon free trade, and I am pretty sure this country that has more or less inventedis not just a temporary hiccup caused by the concept. NAFTA, TTP and TTIP"Our globallyone politician at Pennsylvania Avenue. were demolished or put on ice, WTO gotWe were already experiencing a trend of increasingly criticized by the U.S. Acrossoperating sectorincreasing complexities in international the Atlantic, Boris Johnson followed suit,trade at the level of phytosanitary rules as the EU Commission wants to be lesswill be seriouslyand requirements. These are partly due to dependent on imports, illustrated byaffected by thescientific insights and often also a result its plant protein plan, and some otherof economic intent. Similar to the EUs leaders inside and neighbouring the EUchanging views onattempt to be more self-sufficient in pro-increasingly use nationalistic languageteins, countries that now look more explic-which easily translate in trade relations.free trade." itly at dependencies due to COVID-19 may And while this was looming, COVID- also look at the basic requirement for every 19 suddenly caused havoc in both humancountrys supply of food and other plant health and the economy. One of the firstproductsseeds. The more important the responses to the closing of borders tocropthe more closely its seeds will be curb the spread of the virus was buy localscrutinised. But also, less vital crops, like in order to support producers who couldvegetables, may not escape attention. not export. This was very passionate inand regulatory environments which areThese trends are closely analysed France with its strong dual food systemnot necessarily the same as the marketsin the board rooms of internationally with massive supermarkets next to veryfor which they are produced. Next is qual- oriented seed companies. Some will be popular farmers markets respondingity management and storage, where therelooking at strategic decisions that will to the culture of terroir. But also, inis also a benefit of scale, especially forsignificantly change the current organ-other countries, consumers responded.high value smaller seeds, which requiresisation. What are the costs of further The flower sales in the Netherlands gotmoving seeds across borders. decentralising major operationsfor a a boost following the 8 oclock newsCOVID-19 did demonstrate some ofcentralised management of breeding, showing tons of beautiful flowers beingthe within-company dependencies. Anproduction, quality management, and destroyed because the flower market inexample in vegetatively propagated cropsmarketing, and which risks can be mini-Germany collapsed, just like air connec- appeared when the whole business oper- mised by doing that?tions to further away markets. ation of the company risked being haltedFor others, COVID-19 may have been Will this affect the seed business inby lock-down situations in a single coun- a wakeup call that the world is changing. the longer run? The seed sector is nec- try, such as Uganda (ChrysanthemumJust like breeding goals that change all essarily international, so it is inevitablycuttings) or India (Gerbera tissue cul- the time with a changing climate, mar-affected by trade relations and obstacles.ture). Some flower breeders had alreadykets and agricultural policies (such as the Breeding depends on a critical mass ofexperienced such dependency duringFarm2Fork Strategy), also these major knowledgea combination of molecularthe Eyjafjallajkull eruption in 2010global trends require foresight. For seed biology, genetics, cell and plant physiol- and made a strategic move by starting astrategists, COVID-19 may turn out to be ogy, pathology, agronomy and increasinglysecond production site closer to Europea blessing in disguise.big data and artificial intelligence. So, wenext to their Chinese laboratory. The have to move research materials acrossadditional cost paid off during COVID-19Niels Louwaars is the Managing borders. Then, seed production is donewhen they were able to shift between theDirector at Plantum. This article does in locations that are best suited from atwo sites keeping their operations at fullnot necessarily reflect the views of all combination of environmental, business,speed.Plantum members.30IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'