Welcoming address: ISTA Congress 2010

Date:

16.06.10

Location:

Cologne

Speaker:

State Secretary Dr. Robert Kloos

Participants of the ISTA Congress 2010 in Cologne, Source: BLE - Tassilo von Leoprechting

Check against delivery!

Ladies and Gentlemen!

On behalf of the German Government, I have great pleasure in welcoming you to the 29th ISTA Congress here in Cologne on the Rhine.

Federal Minister Aigner would have liked to attend the Congress in person, but she hopes you will appreciate that she is unable to do so due to other urgent commitments in Berlin that cannot be postponed.

She very much regrets this and specifically asked me to extend to you her best wishes. It is a great honour for us that, after 45 years, the ISTA Congress is being held in Germany again.

We are delighted that you have returned – back to Germany - where seed testing has its roots. Friedrich Nobbe founded the world's first seed testing station "Physiological Experimental and Seed Control Station in Tharandt" near Dresden in Saxony.

Nobbe's aim to improve the quality of seeds by standardised seed testing is still highly topical today. It has become even more relevant in our age that is marked by increasing global trade in seed.

The Federal Government is therefore pleased to host the ISTA Congress and does so with conviction.

Minister Uhlenberg, I would like to thank you for the fact that the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia is also committed to seed testing and is also supporting this Congress.

Global challenges (global food security, energy and raw materials, climate change)

Ladies and Gentlemen, We are all faced with great challenges throughout the world. The key issues for our future have clearly emerged:

• providing a rapidly growing world population with food, energy and raw materials,
• adapting to an ever-changing climate and
• protecting our natural resources.

The agricultural sector and the seed industry are key to mastering these challenges. Policy-makers are called upon to create an appropriate environment that would enable these sectors to make the contributions we all expect.

Germany accepts its responsibility and is also involved, on a global scale, in the quest for sustainable solutions at various levels. The global supply crisis has intensified the debates on agricultural production.

• Significant price increases for agricultural products in all parts of the world prompted the G8 Summit held in Toyako in the summer of 2008 to address the issue of global food security and to discuss in depth the role of agriculture. The heads of state and government of the G8 states championed a Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security and mandated the agriculture ministers to develop concrete proposals. They also called for increased investment in the agricultural sector and for development cooperation to intensify its focus on agriculture once again.
• In the summer of 2009, 27 states from all continents and the relevant international organisations then initiated the L‘Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI) at the G8 Summit in Italy. This initiative is aimed at specifically defining the key fields of work and the substance of the Global Partnership. The heads of state and government also agreed to make 22 billion US Dollar available for the support of the agricultural sector and rural areas in developing countries.
• This meant that the subject of ensuring agricultural production and promoting rural regions was also placed on the agenda of the G20 states.
• In November 2009, the World Food Summit, also in Rome, launched the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security. The way has been paved for global food security to remain a long-term priority issue of world politics.

• In January 2010, 40 ministers of agriculture accepted the invitation extended by Federal Minister Aigner to come to Berlin to attend the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture.

  In keeping with the Global Partnership, one aspect they addressed in their joint final declaration was that technical progress in breeding and access to site-adapted seed and planting stock must be available worldwide.

Finally, a few days ago (9. - 11.06.10), we hosted the Conference on Improving Governance for Food Security and Nutrition in Berlin.

Germany is a driving force in bringing together governments, international organisations, civil society, the scientific community and industry in the fight against hunger. We are all jointly responsible for achieving major progress in realising the right to food by concerted and consistent action.

• The World Seed Conference held in Rome in September 2009 provided valuable input from experts in seed and variety protection for the World Food Summit.

I would like to thank you, President Ertsey, very much indeed that your association played a decisive and leading role in organising this Congress.

In cooperation with the FAO, OECD, UPOV and ISF , You drew up an important declarationin which the significance of seed quality is given proper recognition.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The entire seed industry is under an obligation to play its part: this includes plant breeders, seed producers and the seed trade, the scientific and technical establishments that are closely connected to them, and the related organisations.

Your work on standardised seed testing aimed at ensuring efficient seed production is not just of service to key economic interests. We also need your work if we want to be able to tackle the key challenges of the future. And, I should like to make this absolutely clear, we must want to be able to do so.

Global trade without uniform standards results in distortions of competition. This would also jeopardize the availability of high-quality seeds.

We are therefore happy to seize the opportunity offered by the new Policy Forum. Next Monday we will be discussing the importance of standardised seed testing for global seed trade with experts from all key regions of the world. You are all very welcome to attend!

As I have already mentioned, we are not only faced with the task of granting an ever increasing number of people their right to food.

The conditions under which farming is conducted are, in fact, likely to worsen on most sites. The efforts made by all stakeholders must be all the greater.

We need more innovation in the future, also and most especially in plant breeding. The genetic improvement of our crops is the key to higher and stable yields, even under adverse conditions.

The Federal Government is committed to making progress in breeding and promotes breeding research and innovation in plant breeding at various levels.

But it is equally important that plant breeders continue to be able to develop site-adapted plant varieties. For this purpose, they require effective variety protection legislation that allows them to refinance the costs incurred in their breeding activities.

Like the European Union, Germany has, for good reasons, opted to base its plant variety protection on the basis of the UPOV Convention.

We are convinced that this system of protection for plant varieties is the best way of promoting progress in this sector. However, the genetics of a variety only determine its performance potential.

How high the actual yield is on the respective site depends to a considerable degree on the cropping conditions and, of course, on the quality of the seeds. Variety, seeds and cultivation thus form the "magic triangle" of plant production.

I am very much delighted that our seed industry has relaunched the initiative to increase and ensure seed quality. Ladies and Gentlemen, your technical know-how in seed testing is an important key to success in this process.

EU agricultural policy

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to discuss a few aspects of our European agricultural policy that must also be seen in a global context.

The Federal Government believes that European agricultural policy after 2013 should continue along its present path towards greater market orientation, competitiveness and sustainability.

The European agricultural sector of the future must play its part in dealing with the major challenges of the 21st century: global food security, climate change and the protection of our natural resources. And it must do justice to the opportunities and responsibilities arising from the growing demand for food and renewable resources.

The German Government therefore calls for a strong and properly financed European agricultural policy, both up to 2013 and beyond. In the future, too, we will still need fully decoupled direct payments in Europe that qualify as green box under WTO rules. These provide basic cover for agricultural income.

These decoupled direct payments remunerate, among other things, services of general interest rendered by the agricultural sector to our society. They also make a major contribution to risk coverage on agricultural holdings in the face of increasingly volatile markets.

We want to supplement this by having some form of safety net in the market. The aim is not to constantly intervene in the market. We should, however, be able to assist farms in overcoming extreme market crises.

Our second focus is on rural development. The individual regions of Europe differ significantly in their structures. It is this diversity that makes European landscapes so very attractive. We therefore want to preserve them.

We cannot and do not want to artificially prevent necessary adjustments to changing economic circumstances. However, we want to avoid abrupt transformations that could impair the rural economic and social fabric.

The Common Agricultural Policy will therefore continue to require a regional component in the long term. People living in rural areas expect our support. We should assist them with a view to maintaining a social and economic equilibrium.

The agricultural sector represents a driving force in the rural economic cycle, especially in less-favoured areas. It creates jobs and income. We intend to keep it this way!

In our view, we can only master the many diverse tasks that face us by having sustainable and nationwide farming and pro-active rural areas in all Member States.European agricultural policy must also provide the necessary financial framework for this purpose.

Nothing less than our basis of existence is at stake! We must together make the value of farming clear to citizens in Europe and all over the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The seed industry has a key role to play in the future development of society, industry and agriculture. I therefore ask you, too, to make your important and necessary contribution to a prosperous development throughout as much of the world as possible.

On this note I wish you every success for a good and successful conference.

Do not miss out on the opportunity to gain a personal impression of Cologne, the region and, time permitting, our country.

I also hope you find an opportunity to experience and enjoy the Rhineland’s culinary specialities and the zest for life of its people!