Ongoing exchange on research

There is a constant exchange with advisory boards consisting of
representatives of ministries, industry and farmer interest groups. Interviewees appreciate
these opportunities of exchanging and networking and consider the process as fruitful. The
call on livestock farming which was issued in 2012 in the frame of the innovation
programme, can serve as an example for priority setting influenced by the exchange: The
BMEL developed a research concept on animal husbandry as part of the German Charta on
Agriculture (BMELV 2012), which was a starting point for the DAFA to work out a strategy
on animal husbandry. The call contains most of the research priorities the DAFA suggested
in the strategy.

Other coordination activities comprise e.g. German Innovation Partnerships (DIP) on
agriculture, which have been mentioned as fruitful opportunity to agree with the industry
on important topics to be funded. (BMEL 2014, interview)

In addition, there are informal and more intransparent processes: Topics emerge due to
exchange between ministry representatives and experts, maybe in the frame of a
conference, maybe through direct consultation. Same applies to the European level, where
scientists use informal channels in order to place topics on the research agenda. Several
interviews lead to the conclusion that the better the individual network, especially between
a scientist and representatives of funding organizations are, the more opportunities to
influence the research agenda there are.