In cooperation with Monsanto and Coceral, NAEGA encouraged Monsanto to provide an update on the corn event MON 863. The update provided by Monsanto can be found here.
A new membership directory is now available for NAEGA members. The new directory can be found here, or on the NAEGA members only webpage. NAEGA Member Directories include a comprehensive list of NAEGA’s Board, leadership and membership and committee participation. Please review the directory and let us know if you have any changes.
Last week Gary attended the 2017 Tri-National Agricultural Accord in Denver. Sponsored by the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), this annual meeting of the chief state and provincial agricultural officials of Canada, the United States, and Mexico was a unique opportunity to collaborate on a host of agriculture, trade, and development issues. Gary addressed delegates and attendees on October 18, where he discussed the future of NAFTA, as well as food safety, transportation, cross border movement, and other opportunities and challenges for agriculture in North America.
At the end of the Accord, NASDA and their counterparts from Mexico and Canada released a statement stressing the necessity of NAFTA for agriculture and calling on their respective federal governments to ensure a modernized NAFTA does not harm agriculture, which you can read here.
The U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade met last week at the American Farm Bureau Federation for a briefing from USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney and Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Jason Hafemeister. Under Secretary McKinney spoke about how he hopes to approach the role now that he is confirmed by the Senate and solicited input from industry representatives on all issues in his portfolio, including NAFTA and KORUS negotiations.
On Wednesday, October 18 NAEGA received word that its 2018 Unified Export Strategy (UES) application with the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been accepted and NAEGA will receive funding under the Market Access Program (MAP) in 2018. MAP funding in 2018 for NAEGA will be limited to a $343,200 ceiling, $3,188 less than its 2017 ceiling.
A copy of NAEGA’s 2017 UES application is available here. For more information, please contact Ryan.
This week NAEGA joined a multi-association letter coordinated by the National Retail Federation urging Ambassador Lighthizer not to eliminate NAFTA’s trucking provisions in any renegotiated NAFTA agreement. The letter requests that Ambassador Lighthizer recognize that companies depend on efficient border crossings to remain competitive, and that increasing trade in both directions is putting more and more pressure on our southern border land ports. Allowing Mexican trucks access to U.S. roads increases efficiency in border areas and alleviates truck traffic out of the commercial border zones
You can read a draft of the letter here.
On October 12, 2017 NAEGA joined a letter to the members of the Senate Finance Committee supporting the confirmation of Gregg Doud as Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the Office of the USTR. In the letter, the signees affirmed the importance of the position in advancing agricultural interests at the highest levels of trade negotiations and emphasized Mr. Doud’s exemplary personal and professional background.
A copy of the letter can be found here.
On Tuesday, October 10 Gary and Ryan attended a meeting of the U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade’s High Level Steering Group at the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) in Washington, D.C. During the meeting, the Dialogue was briefed by Karen Antebi, Economic Counselor for Trade and NAFTA Office of the Ministry of Economy of Mexico in Washington, DC; Carlos Vazquez Ochoa, Minister of Agricultural Affairs at the Embassy of Mexico; and Mike Hawkins, Agriculture Counsellor at the Embassy of Canada. They discussed the current state of NAFTA negotiations from their respective governments’ perspectives.
During the meeting, the steering group was also briefed by Sharon Bomer-Lauritsen, Assistant US Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy, and discussed further outreach and engagement with administration officials and stakeholder groups.
Please contact Ryan for more information.
The latest IGTC newsletter is now available! This week’s newsletter includes information about the EU Commission’s high-level conference on modern biotechnologies, updates on the Global Low-Level Presence Initiative, and a final request that members fill out a questionnaire on a global ePhyto solution.
For more details, read the IGTC Newsletter here or visit the IGTC website at www.igtcglobal.org.
A trip report is now available for Katy’s last working visit of the year to Australia on July 21-August 4. On this working visit Katy visit traveled to Sydney to work closely with IGTC member Grain Trade Australia. Following her work in Sydney, Katy traveled on to Melbourne to participate in the 2017 Australian Grain Industry Conference (AIGC).
At GTA Katy conducted a working visit from July 22-28 and coordinated with Sydney-based corporate stakeholders to gather insight and inform them on IGTC policy files.
At the 2017 AGIC in Melbourne from July 29 – August 5, Katy presented before the conference on the theme “Global grain industry working together to facilitate trade”. The session focused on global food security and the role of the grains industry. A copy of her AGIC presentation can be found here.
While in Melbourne, Katy also updated a smaller group of GTA leaders sitting on the Table and Market Access Committee on IGTC policies regarding phytosanitary control, electronic trading documentation, and minimum residue limits (MRL).
A copy of Katy’s trip report can be found here.
North American Export Grain Association
1400 Crystal Drive, Suite 260
Arlington, VA 22202
Telephone: 202-682-4030
Fax: 202-682-4033
Email: info@naega.org
