Ag Ministers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S. say global food demand is climbing and food production faces significant hurdles. Those obstacles include limited access to arable land and fresh water. Because of that, they agreed that agricultural innovation like biotechnology will continue to play a large role in addressing these challenges and can improve farmer productivity in ways that are both safe and sustainable.
The ministers say the number of biotech crops being developed and cultivated around the world is growing quickly. However, despite twenty years of experience in safely using these kinds of products, regulatory processes in many jurisdictions create time gaps between introduction and authorization. That leads to a risk in trade disruptions resulting from low-level presences (LLP) of biotechnology crops that are approved in countries that grow them but are not approved in many importing countries.
In a joint statement, the four ministers say they’ll work together with other countries to advocate for global approaches to manage LLP’s in ways that are practical, science-based, predictable, and transparent. These efforts will include the universal use of international science-based guidelines.