The headline has been the difficult state of the market for agricultural seed; our customers have been having very tough times in many countries, leading to increased use of farm-saved seed of small-grained cereals and, until recently, very low prices for herbage seed.

At the same time our industry has had to face the challenge of increased regulation especially, with provisions for the time when GM varieties become widely grown and tested in the EU. Some of these aspects are now being addressed by legislators so that we can hope to have some improvement and clarification.  If our customers - including those in the initial 10, and then 15 extra new members - can achieve better economic security and better prices, then our prospects as a seed industry will be better too.