b'proposed to the seed industry by the Netherlands based NGO in 2013. Our experience is also based on contribu-tions to the Access to Medicines Index introduced in 2008. Both indexes are an opportunity for companies to demon-strate their contributions toward specific goals as ranked and assessed through the index methodologies, which continue to evolve over time.Access to Seeds is now part of the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) which is measuring and incentivizing business impact towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The WBA is currently preparing a new Food and Agriculture benchmark involving over 300 companies. In this new Index, ten of the highest revenue companies from both fertilizers, agrochemicals and seed suppliers were selected to be included. WBA will publish further details on the benchmarks methodology and begin its baseline in 2020 (see www.worldbenchmarkingalliance.org).ES: WHAT IS BAYER DOING AS A RESULT OF THE ECJ RULING ON PLANT BREEDING INNOVATION LAST YEAR? BT:Bayer, together with the European plant breeding sector, considers the con-sequences of the ECJ ruling to be damag-ing not only for breeders, but for the EU agri-food chain and for society at large. Together with industry, we will con-tinue to work with the scientific community, authorities and society at large to focus on sensible, science-based approaches that allow developers to bring needed solutions to farmers and consumers. Bayer recently made a call on the EUs new commissioners to form and steer an inter-institutional, cross func-tional platform where stakeholders and civil society can discuss how to intro-duce innovation with proportionate and science-based regulation in Europe. We firmly believe that only a dialogue driven by principles such as safety, transparency and sustainability can result in a sensible policy outcome in the EU.ES: SINCE THE NEONICOTINOIDS (NEONIC) BAN IN 2018, FARMERS HAVE HAD TO FIND ALTERNATIVES TO PROTECT CROPS SUCH AS OILSEEDS. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CONSEQUENCES?BT:We must recognize that farmers, irre-spective of prevailing political agendas or public opinion, need to protect their crops in order to protect their livelihoods - and Bruno Tremblay to protect our food supply. They only use authorized products in an approved way. Nevertheless, without the neonics, they 16IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'