The agricultural and food sector is subject to strong political regulation. The discussions on the post-2013 design of the Common Agricultural Policy are in full swing. In addition, other policy areas are increasingly exerting an influence on the agricultural and food sector. Against this background there is a great demand for scientific policy analysis, policy evaluation and policy advice. Therefore, "Opportunities for and constraints of scientific policy analysis" was the topic of the 50th Annual Conference of the German Society of Economic and Social Sciences in Agriculture, which took place at the Johann Heinrich von Thunen-Institute (vTI) in Braunschweig from September 29th to October 1st 2010. On the first day, expectations, experiences and recommendations of users of scientific policy analyses were presented by Dr. SEEGERS (BMELV), Dr. SCHEELE (European Commission), Dr. WILSTACKE (MKULN of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia) and Prof. Dr. DE HAEN (formerly FAO). They emphasized the need for scientifically-based policy advice, and discussed the preconditions which must be met in order to increase the usability of scientific results for policy advice. Using the example of the Guidelines for Policy Advice of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Dr. LENTSCH (Heinrich-Boll-Stiftung, Berlin) identified options for improving the performance and quality of scientifically based policy advice. Dr. VAN MEIJL (LEI, Den Haag, Niederlande) discussed experiences made with scientific policy advice in the Netherlands. On the second day, 33 oral presentations in several work groups and 26 poster presentations covered a wide range of different topics. During the plenary session on the final day, the conference topic was considered from the viewpoint of providers of scientific policy analysis. Prof. Dr. GRETHE (University of Hohenheim) and Dr. BRITZ (University of Bonn) gave an overview of the state of the art of related research and the challenges of quantitative, model-based analysis of agricultural market policies and environmental aspects. Prof. Dr. HECKELEI (University of Bonn) highlighted the conflicting demands that arise from the existing incentive scheme for scientists on the one hand and policy-relevant analysis on the other hand. In his presentation on the policy relevance of agri-economic research, Prof. Dr. ISERMEYER (vTI, Braunschweig) pointed out that while this research deals with policy-relevant topics, the relevance of its output for policy makers can be improved. For the around 230 conference participants, the commemorative event "50th Annual Conference of the GEWISOLA" organised by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, including the respective poster exhibition constituted the highlight of the social programme.
