Boosting The Use Of Organic Seed And Cultivars –How To Assess Public And Private Sector Interventions

Summary

Organic seed and cultivars markets are highly distorted. Political or private sector interventions to overcome market failures need to be found to comply with the demands of organic agriculture. Simulation models are useful tools to assess such interventions in ex-ante assessments. This study outlines a conceptual framework to simulate the seed value chain of EU organic agriculture: We deem a positive recursive-dynamic model with decision-making through a combination of mathematical programming and heuristics of a multi-agent system as the most suited approach. Potential modelling scenarios comprise a number of regulatory measures, as well as public and private investments in training and research along the seed value chain.