EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I EUROPEAN SEED I 7 companies might wish to be protected, however, here again we must consider the interconnected nature of the activity. Almost all of the EU based companies engage directly in the UK econ- omy to achieve these results by establishing breeding stations, domestic UK subsidiary companies and creating UK employment and local tax revenues. So, alternatively, it can be said that 38 out of the 41 wheat varieties on the UK recommended list can be considered to be ‘bred in Britain’ by these EU companies. The activities are completely integrated to an extent where if barriers to trade appeared, their disruptive potential is very significant. Is the dominance of EU headquartered companies in field crops a problem for the UK? Breeding is high cost, long term and relies on size and scale of pools of genetic diversity to deliver genetic gain adapted to an environment. This is difficult to finance by small markets. France, Germany and the UK are the three biggest markets and the reason for the development of the integrated international approach of the most successful field crop breeders is that it enables us to build a sustainable economic model for European breeding, which is based on accessing the widest possible genetic material early in the breeding process. For the companies headquartered in the UK, many have long histories as family businesses active in herbage seeds, potatoes and vegetable seeds whose activities also rely heav- ily on export to the EU. Both domestic UK and EU companies all work within a global legal framework for seeds provided by International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and other international treaties such as the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD). It is critical to their ongoing business that a sound legal framework for trade between UK and EU is maintained. The regulatory environment for seeds is critical to the sector business model. Prior to the current regulatory regimes for PVP, variety registration and seed certification, market failure in seeds for productive agriculture development was common. Prior to the introduction of this framework shortly after the Second World War, all of Europe including the UK suffered from poor standards of nutrition available to those on average incomes. There were widespread public health issues stemming from inadequate nutrition and unsafe food. Today’s food system that many take for granted has its foundation in the regulation of plant varieties as seeds, which creates an economically sus- tainable environment for private sector activity. With today’s imperative to work towards sustainable agriculture development as well as food security, the regulatory regimes remain as valid as they ever were. Resilience against world political shifts and protectionism also puts a new focus on the economic aspects of EU and UK food security. So for the seeds business world, clear legal frameworks and harmonisation between legal frameworks remains a clear goal regardless of a countries political affilia- tions. This affects so many areas of our activity: • Breeding and biodiversity •  Research and Development (R&D) and access to tech- nology • Partnerships with public research • Plant variety protection, identity and novelty (DUS) • Plant variety registration and EU common catalogue • Seed certification and quality standards • Application and use of seed treatment •  Phytosanitary and biosecurity issues for international trade in seeds • Regulatory approval of biotech • IP regimes • Tax regimes • Employment law We must also look wider than these internal seed company issues that impact directly to understand the strategic drivers for our markets that we need to respond to as a supplier. What is the economic environment of our customers? After leaving the EU, the UK will need to develop a completely new domestic agriculture policy and again, we need to think what possibilities exist for the key policy areas. It can be expected that some form of government payments to farmers is likely to continue beyond Brexit and it will be likely that environmental protection policy will be a key parameter for determining access by agriculture to public money. However, there will also be pressure from the farming sector to remain economically competitive in interna- tional commodity markets and this may be difficult depending on other countries’ subsidy regimes. CAP in the EU will also be of key significance as the scale of trade in agricultural output between UK and EU is very significant for the functioning of both economic areas. One thing is for sure, that in reaching the balance between sustainable production and food security, Trust isn’t something that grows overnight. Many farming families have relied on KWS for generations. For more than 160 years, we’ve been the seed specialist that delivers what farmers expect – the best quality seed for sugar beet, corn, cereals, rapeseed and sunflowers. That’s why it comes as no surprise farmers consider orange the color of reliability. Find out more at our website. “KWS and me. That’s reliability.” www.kws.com