The United States wants to convince Latin American countries to create a common strategy to move toward more sustainable agriculture without sacrificing productivity, an approach that would serve as a counterweight to the strategy. "From Farm to Table" (Farm to Fork, F2F) of the European Union (EU).
In an interview with Efe this Friday, the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, Tom Vilsack, revealed that he spoke with his counterparts in Brazil and Mexico to create a "Coalition for Productivity Growth", because he is not convinced by the European model, based in part on reducing the use of pesticides.
"There could be a big loss in productivity if we follow the path the Europeans have chosen. We do not believe that we have to sacrifice productivity to achieve sustainability, we believe that both things can be achieved"Vilsack said.
The United States is still shaping the initiative, but Vilsack said it has already received "a very positive response" of her Brazilian counterpart, Tereza Cristina, and that her Mexican counterpart, VÃctor Villalobos, "also understand the opportunities" what that coalition would entail.
"The American continent, in particular, has an opportunity to come together, because we share common approaches to technology, common approaches to agriculture; and we believe that this offers another alternative, another way to reach net zero (emissions)"Vilsack opined.
What the United States wants to avoid, continued the Agriculture Minister, is "a situation in which Europe basically promotes, through trade arrangements, that our crops do not have access to foreign markets".
"Both Brazil and the United States depend on exports, and we want to make sure that whatever path is used (in the EU), that it does not restrict trade", he stressed.
One of the aspects that Vilsack does not consider adequate of the strategy "From Farm to Table" The EU’s plan is to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50% and fertilizers by at least 20% by 2030.
Last March, a report by the US Department of Agriculture concluded that if the same strategy were applied globally, world agricultural production could fall as much as 11% and food prices could rise as much as 89%.
"We really cannot afford not to have adequate productivity, because if not, we will have a lot of stress and a lot of conflict based on (lack of) access to food."Vilsack stressed.
Rather than restricting the use of pesticides and herbicides so strictly, Washington believes that it is better to take advantage of advances in innovation to "use them more precisely", assuming that each terrain is "different as to what you need".
"At the same time, we believe that there is a huge opportunity with gene editing and other technologies, to potentially create crops that do not necessarily need as many pesticides."said President’s Cabinet member Joe Biden.
Vilsack, who was also Secretary of Agriculture throughout Barack Obama’s presidency (2009-2017), raised that idea with some of his counterparts during a G20 meeting last month in Florence, and stressed that the United States shares with the EU’s desire to move towards sustainable agriculture.
"We want to emphasize that Europeans may decide to go one way, but there is another way, a way that focuses on productivity, innovation and technology and that can lead us to the same place, to the same goal."Vilsack claimed.
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