b'THE MAN BEHIND THE MYTHIn-depth interview with Garlich von Essen.Marcel Bruins mbruins@issuesink.comFOR THE PAST 15 YEARS,he has been the Secretary-General of the European Seed Association (ESA), now Euroseeds. Before that he was Director Public Affairs at ESA for four years, and Political Advisor in the European Parliament for another four years. He has been leading the European seed sector from one achievement to the next. At a time of rebranding for the ESA and at a time when a renewed batch of European Union (EU) politicians are settling into their new positions, our sister publication, European Seed, thought it was the perfect time to sit down with Garlich von Essen. Together, they chat about his childhood, working in the EU policy bubble, and his biggest achievements and regrets.European Seed (ES): Garlich, can you share a little bit about your childhood? Garlich von Essen (GvE): Indeed, I grew up on the family farm in Lower-Saxony, in the north of Germany. The village, Rastede near Oldenburg, had around 5,000 and the total political community a good 10,000 inhabitants at the time. It was still very much a rural community, with farming and its input industries economically very important and also very visibly present everywhere. We had a dairy processing plant where we delivered our milk and got butter and other dairy products in return, a cooperative where we took our apples in exchange for juice throughout the year, two or three businesses selling and repairing agricultural machinery and tractors were a familiar sight everywhere. In my kindergarten and early school years, I think around half of the kids either came from farms or had a close relative in the farming sector. ES: What is the fondest memory of your early years? GvE: I would not be able to pick a spe-cific event. But I always liked the days that marked the change of seasons. Springtime, when you were almost des-perately looking out for the first green leaves, summer with the smells of fresh hay and our cereal harvest being dried day and night, the beginning of fall with its beautiful colors, our cattle returning to the stables, and, a very formative element in our family, the start of the shooting 72/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2019'