Posted November 5, 2013
Several agricultural exporters and farm groups recently sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman, Commerce Secretary Petty Pritzker and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack voicing concerns about China’s process of approving new biotechnology traits, according to a press release from the American Farm Bureau Federation available here. The letter is available here.
The letter comes as officials prepare for a meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) with the nation’s largest trading partner in December.
The letter stated: “China is now the largest export market for U.S. agricultural goods valued at over $32 billion in 2012. However, in spite of our growing successful trade relationship, China’s biotech approval process has gone from being slow but predictable to being even slower, unpredictable and nontransparent.”
The groups argue that China’s approval system is effectively preventing U.S. farmers from adopting new technologies to increase yields, fight pests and weeds, enhance quality and improve environmental performance.
Addressing biotechnology in other areas of the world, representatives from the American Sugarbeet Growers Association (ASGA) and Syngentarecently met with industry leaders during a trip to the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, and Russia, according to an article by AgProfessional available here.
The group met with representatives from British Sugar to discuss the state of the industry in the European Union. They also toured Syngenta facilities in Sweden and Switzerland, and met with Syngenta leadership and researchers to discuss future innovations for the sugarbeet industry.
The Russian sugar industry representative also met with the visiting U.S. groups to discuss the current state of the sugarbeet industry in Russia and Europe, and plans for the future.
Jeff Pomeroy, head of the sugarbeet crop portfolio at Syngenta, said, “The day served as a great opportunity for the grower leaders to see the entire hybrid development process and they were impressed with the efforts Syngenta devotes to sugarbeet breeding.”
For more information on biotechnology and international trade, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website hereand here.
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