A team of researchers from 15 European countries has generated a model which can evaluate the effect of policy change on agriculture. Unlike previous models, this can evaluate impacts at multiple levels; from farming in a specific region to the whole European and global food market. Previous studies have also tended to focus on either the economic or the environmental impacts of change: the new model is able to evaluate both.

The model is designed to evolve, with new components added at later stages as necessary, for example, the effect of agricultural policy on biodiversity. The geographical scope of the model can also expand as the number of EU Member States increases.

The development of the model, named the ‘System for Environmental and Agricultural Modelling; Linking Science and Society’ (SEAMLESS), has been funded under the EU Framework Programme 6 (Global Change and Ecosystems) and was commissioned by the University of Wageningan (Netherlands).