The agriculture ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the United States stressed that demand for food is growing, while agricultural production faces significant constraints, such as limited access to arable land and fresh water.
The authorities agreed that agricultural innovation, for example biotechnology, including precision biotechnology, will continue to play an important role in meeting these challenges, and can improve farmers' productivity in a safe and sustainable manner..
The Secretary of Government for Agribusiness of Argentina, Luis Miguel Etchevehere; the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, Sonny Perdue; the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food of Canada, Marie Claude Bibeau and the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply of Brazil, Tereza Cristina Correa da Costa Dias recognized that the number of biotech crops being developed and cultivated around the world increases annually. However, despite two decades of experience in the safe use of these products, regulatory processes in many jurisdictions create time gaps in their authorization. This generates an increasing risk of trade restrictions as a result of the Low Level Presence (LLP) of biotech crops that are approved in growing countries, but not yet approved in importing countries.
Low Level Presence
LLP occurs when a small amount of a biotech crop that has been evaluated as safe in one or more countries according to international standards is unintentionally present in a shipment to a country where the product has not yet been approved.This can lead to unnecessary trade restrictions, which can affect food safety, prices and attitudes towards innovation in both exporting and importing countries.
Globally, the number of unnecessarily asynchronous approvals is increasing, and this requires additional actions to address the risk of trade disruptions and avoid their negative effects for importing and exporting countries alike, and to promote global food security.
«To this end, we, the Ministers of Agriculture of Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the United States, commit to increasing collaborative work with third countries in 2019, and to continue to advocate for global approaches to managing LLP situations that are practical, science-based, predictable and transparent. These efforts will include the universal use of international science-based guidelines."they said in the joint statement.
We had a meeting with my peers @SecretarySonny ?? @mclaudebibeau ?? @vmva1950 ?? and @TerezaCrisMS ??, to coordinate actions in the search for an unrestricted international agricultural trade system and science-based policies. #G20Japan pic.twitter.com/LlNXlKxB0p
— Luis Etchevehere (@lmetcevehere) May 11th 2019
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