When a group of prairie farm leaders came to Parliament Hill in early June to plead for freer trade, they also had a warning for Canada’s politicians and trade negotiators.
They said growing European consumer skepticism about how food is produced will cast a shadow over efforts to negotiate science-based rules for safety.
“North American producers are going to be jeopardized when the world’s consumers are given the choice between a subsidized European food system that disallows, by their definition or perception, over-fertilization and the use of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), hormones in beef and other technological advances versus our use of technology,” said Greg Rockafellow. The Western Barley Growers Association president was speaking to the Senate agriculture committee.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
“Perception may be more important than reality when we start discussing environmental issues.”
He said European Union policy reforms “will attempt to force the EU definition of environmentalism and animal welfare on the rest of the world.”
Other witnesses that day had the same message.
Leo Meyer, vice-president of the barley growers association, said consumers increasingly flex their market muscle to tell producers what they consider acceptable to eat.
He said North Americans must realize it is not just European politicians and lobbyists who are objecting to hormones and GMOs: “It is the three to five hundred million people, the majority of them saying ‘no, we do not want it.’ “
Robert Broeska, president of the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, told senators the debate over marketing GMO seed is just starting. It is a major issue for Canada’s oilseed producers, who use genetically altered seeds.
