But to a European farmer, Veneman, a farmer's daughter with a long and virtually unbroken association with agriculture, would be a dream candidate.

There was a time when farmers and farming interests were important to all governments - a respect recognized when agriculture was given its champion at the cabinet table. These days, European farmers consider themselves lucky if they avoid someone hostile to their interests.

In 1999, a vegetarian was appointed secretary of agriculture in Wales - where livestock pretty much is the agricultural industry. Now Germany has a "Green" as its minister of agriculture.

The apparent reason for Chancellor Gerhard Schröeder's recent handing of the agriculture ministry to Renate Künast, co-leader of the Greens and former anti-nuclear protester, is complex and really unrelated to farming.

In 1998 in return for supporting Schröeder's Social Democrats, the Green Party was given three cabinet posts. But the alliance has, at best, been an uneasy one. When the former agriculture minister, a dairy farmer, recently resigned, Schröeder was probably quick to see the advantages of saddling Künast with the difficult job of handling the crisis over BSE, the mad cow disease.

Elsewhere in Europe, some farmers might be cheered by the thought of their German competitors lumbered with all kinds of frustrating environmental restrictions, as British farmers are with animal welfare legislation. The reality, however, is that Künast will likely suffer the same fate as Christine Gwyther, the Welsh vegetarian agriculture minister. Faced with hostile farmers and little support in cabinet, she is likely to make limited progress on issues that she, as an activist environmentalist, would like to promote.

But politics aside, German farmers have surely been slighted. It reflects the diminishing influence of agriculture in Germany, and is a rather sad reflection on public attitudes toward the farm sector.

For CBC commentary, I'm David Walker, an agricultural economist, at Lodge Farm Postwick in Broadland Norfolk, England.

David Walker was senior economist for Home-Grown Cereals Authority in London and previously was executive director of the Alberta Grain Commission. His opinions on British and European agricultural issues can be found at www.openi.co.uk/