Following an initiative tabled by the European Parliament in 2013, the European Commission (DG Agriculture and Rural Development) contracted a “Preparatory action on EU plant and animal genetic resources in agriculture”. The project was launched in July 2014 for a period of two years.
Wow. The European Parliament interested in enough in agricultural biodiversity to invest a couple million euros in a study which is going to start by “identifying and mapping existing initiatives, databases, and collections related to genetic resources, as well as relevant stakeholders,” and take it from there. Watch this space…
But the documentation and description seem wholly to concentrate on existing European agricultural biodiversity `conservation and use’. Anyone who knows the history of genetic resources in the USA – the greatest agricultural exporting nation there ever has been – will also know that it is the genetic resources of other countries and continents that is by far the most important for EU agriculture. They will end up doing something plain daft – more talky-talky in Brussels.
But Dave… two aphorisms come to mind:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then.
It’s only a couple million Euros. Maybe something good will come of it… maybe something in Brussels sprouts??