Members of the International Oilseed Producers Dialogue (IOPD) convened their XXIII meeting June 28 and 29, 2021. The meeting occurred as the United Nations is convening a Food Systems Summit; consumers and companies are increasingly placing emphasis on climate impacts and the environment; and governments are considering how best to nourish a growing world population while improving agricultural sustainability. IOPD members adopted the following declaration:
In line with this, there is a shared concern regarding the insufficient representation of farmers' views within the context of the upcoming Food Systems Summit. Moreover, while the Summit calls for a "transformation" of food systems, it should also consider that many countries which represent a great share of global food suppliers already implement sustainable production systems.
Demand for vegetable oils and oilseed products continues to be strong and oilseed producers are well positioned to be vital partners in global food security and the fight to address climate change. Vegetable oils and protein meals provide a nutrient dense food source for humans and animals and are a readily available, renewable, climate-smart alternative to fossil fuels. IOPD members are committed to growing sustainable crops in harmony with the environment and our communities, while also ensuring family farms remain economically viable for current and future generations.
To maximize our contributions and to ensure producers remain resilient to the complex, multi-faceted challenges facing our food systems today, IOPD members call on our governments to advance the following policies as the foundation of both national and international programs to ensure sustainable food systems:
- Science and innovation play a central role in meeting global food and climate change goals. Producers rely on innovation to ensure sustainable farm practices that can withstand the pressures threatening crop yield, to help them meet evolving consumer demand and to remain resilient in the face of climate change. Our producers have a long and shared history as early adopters of new knowledge, technology, equipment, and best management practices to ensure the adaptability and viability of their farms. Science has long been agriculture's guiding post, and decisions must be based on sound science. Regulatory environments and policies must encourage innovation and ensure producers access to a full suite of tools including new seed development technologies such as gene editing and biotechnology, crop protection products, soil nutrients, and precision agriculture.
- Existing environmental practices provide a strong base to leverage and build on. Our producers are long-standing stewards of their land. They rely on it for their families' livelihood and have made significant contributions to sustainability over the years by sequestering carbon in their soils, preserving biodiversity through maintaining natural vegetation and habitats, incorporating crop rotations and no-till farming systems, and adopting best management practices to optimize water, energy, pesticide, and fertilizer use. These practices provide an important public good function and producers' contributions should be recognized in private and public initiatives aimed at measurement and verification, carbon neutrality, biodiversity, and food system transformations.
- Comprehensive trade liberalization is required to meet global food and renewable energy demand. Trade connects producers with customers and underpins our global food system. Our producers are increasingly concerned with growing protectionism worldwide and the negative impact barriers to trade have on our competitiveness and access to innovation. COVID-19 demonstrated the importance of open borders to the flow of food and energy supplies globally and its critical role in post-pandemic recovery. Further liberalization includes a renewed WTO programme on agriculture, an enhanced Codex Alimentarius and a commitment to risk proportionate science-based sanitary and phytosanitary measures including aligned maximum residue limits (MRLs) and timely approvals of new biotechnology events including gene-editing.
- No one solution will address climate or production challenges. While farming practices and types vary by geography and context, our producers share the common goal of meeting evolving, and growing demand for food, being recognised as solution providers in the fight against climate change, as well as ensuring more sustainable production systems and continual advancements in agriculture. Promoting singular goals, production practices, and tools -- such as envisioned under the European Union's Farm to Fork Strategy -- rather than focusing on outcomes will negatively impact producers and impede our ability to provide stable and ever-more sustainable supplies of food and energy.
IOPD Members:
American Soybean Association (ASA) – United States
Asociación Argentina de Productores en Siembra Directa (Aapresid) – Argentina
Asociación de Productores de Soja, Oleaginosas y Cereales (APS) – Paraguay
Associação dos Produtores de Soja e Milho (Aprosoja) – Brasil
Associação dos Produtores de Soja e Milho de Mato Grosso (Aprosoja Mato Grosso) – Brasil
Australian Oilseeds Federation (AOF) – Australia
Cámara Paraguaya de Exportadores y Comercializadores de Cereales y Oleaginosas (CAPECO) - Paraguay
Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA) – Canada
Fédération française des producteurs d'oléagineux et de protéagineux (FOP) – France
Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) – Canada
Mesa Tecnológica de Oleaginosos (MTO) – Uruguay
National Farmers Union (NFU) – United Kingdom
U.S. Canola Association – United States
Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen (UFOP) – Germany
U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) – United States