IGTC Meeting with the ISF

On October 19-20 Katy Lee, IGTC Secretariat, and Randy Gordon, NAEGA Volunteer, travelled to Berlin, Germany to participate in a meeting between the IGTC and the International Seed Federation (ISF). During the meeting, the IGTC and ISF discussed information sharing on plant breeding innovation for the benefit of the entire agri-food value chain, including consumers. The IGTC provided evidence to demonstrate the importance of advance consultation, open dialogue and exchange of information between entities engaged in developing and implementing gene edited traits in grain production, including grain producers, handlers, exporters and importers, and the food and feed and processing sectors.

A trip report for this meeting will be available in the coming weeks.

U.S. Food & Agriculture Dialogue for Trade

On Friday, October 5 Gary Martin chaired an informal meeting of the U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade at the American Farm Bureau Federation. Dialogue guest Ambassador Gregg Doud, Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Sharon Bomer-Lauritsen, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy provided an overview of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and insight into several technical aspects of the agreement.

The Dialogue plans to meet next on October 18.

DBTG Operational and Technical Seminar

On October 4-5, Ryan participated in the Dry Bulk Terminals Group’s (DBTG) Operational and Technical Seminar in Baltimore, MD. The seminar covered safety, health, and environmental issues for dry bulk terminals. A trip report will on this event will follow in the coming weeks. During the seminar Ryan presented on The Bulk Grain Trade in a Complex Policy Environment: Experiences from NAEGA and the IGTC. Ryan, who also serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the DBTG, also participated in an Executive Committee meeting on October 3 to discuss organizational operations, finances, and planning for the next seminar.

NAEGA-NGFA Joint Statement on USMCA

On Monday, October 1, 2018 NAEGA and the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) released a joint statement regarding announcement of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. As part of the statement, NAEGA President and CEO Gary Martin and NGFA President Randy Gordon commented that: “Given the integrated nature of the North American economy, including within the food and agricultural sector, it was extremely important to reach a trade agreement that included all three countries. The announcement of a new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) represents a significant, positive step in modernizing and further enhancing North American food and agricultural commerce that has and will continue to benefit economic growth and consumers in this hemisphere, and further enhance investment and food security.”

A copy of the joint statement can be found here.

Contracts and Best Practices Seminar – New Orleans

Thank you to all who joined us in Destrehan, LA for a NAEGA Contracts and Best Practices Seminar on Tuesday, October 9 in Destrehan, LA. A special thank you to Bunge North America for donating space to host the seminar. During the seminar, 12 participants received an in-depth review of the global contracting environment, including an update on the new NAEGA 2 Model Contract from NAEGA Senior Advisors Andrew Marting and Sam Bonilla. The seminar also featured interactive activities including a mock arbitration.

Brazil Working Visit and GLI

On September 16-26 Katy Lee, IGTC Secretariat, traveled to Sao Paulo and Natal in Brazil to conduct a working visit with IGTC member association Associação Nacional dos Exportadores de Cereais (ANEC) and to participate in the 2018 Global Low Level Presence meeting on September 27 and 28.

Working Visit
To begin this mission, the IGTC Secretariat was welcomed by the Associação Nacional dos Exportadores de Cereais (ANEC - www.anec.com.br) during the week of September 18. This working visit provided the IGTC with an opportunity to coordinate with ANEC on IGTC policy files and programs.

GLI
This year's GLI meeting took place September 27-28 in Natal, Brazil. During the general session Tyler Bjornson and Krista Thomas of Canada Grains Council (CGC), an IGTC member association, took the floor on behalf of the IGTC to present evidence to an audience of government representatives about the need for science and risk-based LLP policies for grain trade facilitation.

An important element of the industry participation at this event was the revised policy document of the Global Alliance on Ag Biotech Trade (GAABT - www.gaabt.org), which addresses the potential for trade disruptive situations owing to the asynchronous approval of products of plant biotechnology.

In Brazil, governments worked to establish actions to be completed in the intercessional GLI period; to further regulatory cooperation; and to improve understanding about opportunities and challenges related to adopting the practical approaches to LLP outlined in the GLI statement.

Presence of Cirsium arvense in Vietnam Shipments

NAEGA is continuing to follow ongoing market access issues regarding weed seed presence in U.S. shipments to Vietnam. On August 21, 2018 USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) sent a letter to Hoang Trung, Director General of Vietnam’s Plant Protection Department (PPD) regarding the presence of Cirsium arvense (Canadian thistle) seed in U.S. grain shipments. According to the letter, APHIS is investigating the incidence of Cirsium arvense in U.S. export grain, both through evaluation of available scientific literature on and the grain pathway, and by review of export grain samples over a six year period.

APHIS has been working on the Cirsium arvense issue with Vietnam since June 2018.  Currently, there is a November 1 deadline in place which states that, if Cirsium arvense is detected after this date, consignments will be re-exported, and there will be a risk of suspension of U.S. grain imports. 

Currently, APHIS is engaged on a technical basis, and has proposed a bilateral meeting in the U.S. in early December 2018 to address the issue. In the meantime, APHIS has provided a pathway risk analysis in which it was argued that there is a low risk not only of Canada thistle seed being present in the grain pathway and consequently low risk of entry into Vietnam, but that with Vietnam’s tropical climate, the fragility and low germination of the seed, and the intended use of processing are taken into consideration, there is a very low risk of establishment.  Additionally, APHIS provided an identification key for thistle, noting that there are a number of other thistle seeds sharing much of the same morphology with Cirsium arvense, and inviting a technical exchange.

In response to these claims, Vietnam has stated that there is a high probability of introduction and according to international practice the appropriate level of protection for Cirsium arvense is zero at arrival of all consignments. 

NAEGA continues to monitor this situation and is pressing for a global and across U.S. Government coordinated response. NAEGA believes that Ukraine and Australia have already secured an accommodation.

As this situation continues to develop, NAEGA is seeking member input and recommendations for appropriate paths forward. Additional background information can be found below:

1. APHIS letter to Vietnam PPD – August 21, 2018
2. Vietnam PPD letter to APHIS – September 5, 2018
3. PPD Exporter Announcement of November 1 Deadline

NGFA-NAEGA Joint Statement on U.S. Trade following Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing

On September 19, NAEGA and NGFA submitted a joint statement to the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee as a follow up to the Committee’s September 13 hearing concerning perspectives on U.S. agricultural trade. The statement provided information on the performance of U.S. trade with respect to the grain, feed, grain and oilseed processing, and export sectors. The statement goes into detail about agricultural trade with current trade agreement partners, the European Union, Japan, and China, and warns of the harm that lost market share can inflict on U.S. exporters.

Read the full statement here.

NAEGA Contracts Committee

The NAEGA Contracts Committee met on Thursday, September 20. Committee members discussed the status of the new NAEGA 2 contract’s adoption, was provided an update on Subcommittee action regarding differing interpretations of Addendum 1, Clause 6b, and also informed the Committee of an upcoming training on the rules of arbitration conducted by the American Arbitration Association, designed with NAEGA Special Grain Arbitrators in mind.

U.S. Food & Agriculture Dialogue for Trade

On Thursday, September 20 Gary Martin chaired a meeting of the U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade at the American Farm Bureau Federation. Dialogue guests Roger Wentzel, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Jeffrey Jones, Senior Policy Advisor at the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) provided off the record comments on the status of trade agreement talks with various nations, particularly potential free trade agreements with the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines.). Following a robust session with the guests,  Asia-Pacific and North American Market Working Group chairs provided updates and plans for Dialogue meetings on October 18 and November 20 were preliminarily set.