Jul 22, 2009
Wellington, New Zealand – "International trade is vital to farmer's ability to continue to meet the food and renewable fibers and fuels needs of a growing world population, and the tools resulting from scientific innovation are crucial to farm output. Both trade and innovation are the only secure paths towards agriculture being sustainable in its ability to meet demand and care for the environment," said CropLife America (CLA) president and CEO, Jay Vroom in a keynote address here today. Speaking at the annual conference of Agcarm, the association representing the crop protection and animal health business of New Zealand, Vroom told the group that the three essential ingredients of trade, innovation, and sustainability are values in common between the USA and New Zealand.
"First, in the category of farm exports, both our countries are major contributors to the stream of food that reaches consumers overseas. The value of US farm exports now currently exceeds the equivalent of one third the total of our gross farm cash income. As we know, the ratio in New Zealand is much higher. But this is not just about our farmers making a reasonable living, it is about making the best use of the best resources in our countries to most efficiently supply vital food and other goods and allowing market signals to work. Notwithstanding recent G-8 government commitments to raising productivity in the developing world, which is certainly a principal supported by CropLife and the US government, the ability of farmers in the developed world to keep markets moving and trade going is even more vital if we are to meet the expected need of 50 per cent more food by 2050," Vroom observed.
Vroom went on to note that while current farm trade, and commensurate international rules that provide for intellectual property protection of innovative crop protection products plus harmonized regulations for scientific technologies, are positive, additional policy improvements are necessary. "While we all wait for the WTO Doha round to restart, we can make progress in bilateral and regional trade negotiations. One of the best new examples of that kind of opportunity is the Trade Partnership of the Pacific or TPP, a new effort to which our two nations and 4 others are already working on. Within the TPP we see a good chance to move forward more fair and free Ag trade interests and to improve the incentives to innovate by enhancing and normalizing rules that guide intellectual property protection," Vroom concluded.
CropLife America and Agcarm (via its membership in CropLife Asia) are both affiliated with the global federation CropLife International (CLI). The federation advocates for the plant science industry worldwide on a wide range of issues and policy venues, including the WTO and several United Nations agencies such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, UNEP, and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. A new initiative of the federation involves tracking and curtailing trade in counterfeit pesticide products, an initiative that in its first two years has brought significant successes while working with a wide array of national and international law enforcement authorities.
