Lighting on the road to explore future directions for agricultural modelling in the EU – some considerations on what needs to be done

Abstract

In the field of agri-food, impact assessments to support policy decision-making are often based on simulations delivered by models. The increasing complexity of policies affecting agri-food sectors requires improving the capacities of current models, connecting or redesigning them to deliver forward-looking insights on policy objectives. The EU-Project ‘Support for Policy Relevant Modelling of Agriculture’ (SUPREMA) has identified upcoming needs in the research and policy agenda, while exploring the feasibility of those potential modelling exercises by testing the existing tools. The assessment has pointed out necessities for model extensions and development of new tools. Besides, it has revealed the potential of model integration and collaboration to supplement the outcomes of individual models. This is supported in view of the food system approach that is becoming the fundamental framework for analysing the dynamics of the agri-food sector when considering it from a broad perspective. This paper describes shortly how the assessment was conducted and presents the outcomes and lessons learnt from the project. It pays special attention to the challenges and the policy priorities that are expected to become important issues in the policy agenda in the coming years.