Agriculture, Forestry and Food Minister Dejan Židan identified climate change as the biggest challenge in the future.

Climate change is what has been affecting the operations of agricultural companies in recent years and this will also be the case in the future, which puts enormous pressure on the food sector, the minister said.

"Climate change is here. Not a year goes by without hailstone, draught ... all that is disrupting agricultural production," Židan noted.

The state has reacted with various measures so far and will have to do more to ease the adjustment to the new reality in the future, he believes.

According to the minister, climate change should also be taken into account when drafting the new common agricultural policy.

The talks on the agricultural policy for the 2021-2027 period are already under way and Židan estimated that the initial proposal for distribution of funds to Slovenia was bad, "indecent even".

Brussels has been stressing the importance of food production and simplifications but the minister thinks the first proposal does not reflect that.

"We have to join our forces and be aware that we have a year or two of very hard work ahead to improve the initial proposal," he said.

Other speakers pointed to the importance of the people, staff for prosperity of the sector. Director general of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), Sonja Šmuc, said that good leaders knew that only content people can produce added value and be innovative.

Šmuc also pointed to the gap which is created because the young enter the market too late and the share of old employees is so big.