How to deal with the challenges of linking a large number of individual national models: the case of the AGMEMOD Partnership

The AGMEMOD Partnership seeks to capture the inherent existingheterogeneity of agricultural systems by linking together individualEU Member State models, an aggregated EU model and severalaccession countries into one single model, while still maintaininganalytical consistency. Although this approach facilitates the comparisonof the impact of a policy change across different MemberStates, it generates challenges in practical implementation, rangingfrom significant communication and administration requirements, toaggregation and consistency issues. This contribution providesinsights into the different challenges posed to the scientists anddiscusses the key issues for maintenance and further developmentof such a complex system. Specific attention is paid to technicaldevices and tools as well as to the design of institutional settings toachieve consistency.