When the World Summit on Sustainable Development launches this week in
Johannesburg, South Africa, Ontario farmer Jack Wilkinson will be
working the halls and mounting the podiums, speaking for farmers of the
world.
It will be his coming out on the world stage as president of the
International Federation of Agricultural Producers and a prime
opportunity to push his agenda of improving the visibility and
opportunities for farmers in developing countries.
“I would like to see developing countries have the same kind of
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infrastructure, the same ability to work and trade on the international
market, as we take for granted here,” Wilkinson said in a statement
when he was elected IFAP president in Cairo, Egypt, at a summer meeting.
In an August interview, the northern Ontario farmer said one focus of
his first two-year term will be to expand federation membership to
include more developing countries, and to stress that international
policies and agreements must take into account special needs of poor
farmers.
“An example is the World Trade Organization talks and the need for
developing country farmers to have the information and analysis they
need to push for a deal that will benefit them,” Wilkinson said. “I see
that as a very important role for IFAP.”
His new job will change Wilkinson’s long-time focus from the corridors
of Ontario’s Queen’s Park and Ottawa’s Parliament Hill to the hallways
of the United Nations in New York and the Food and Agricultural
Organization in Rome. His issues will switch from manure management in
Ontario and farm safety nets in Canada to the farmer stake in
international treaties, climate change, WTO negotiations and such
international hot potatoes as the controversial decision by the
government of Zimbabwe to seize land owned by white commercial farmers.
But Wilkinson said Canadian farmers will also benefit from his
international work. Through IFAP contacts he will be able to keep the
Canadian Federation of Agriculture informed about developments in
international affairs and trade talks.
“There is a lot of information you can glean in a job like this, a lot
of contacts. I think it will be useful to be able to report that
information back to the CFA. It will make them better prepared.”
Wilkinson is a former CFA president and current Ontario Federation of
Agriculture president, although he plans to quit that job this fall.
His election continued a tradition of Canadian leadership in the
international farmer organization. He is the fourth Canadian to hold
the IFAP presidency in the past half century. It is a federation of
national farm groups representing more than 50 countries.
The presidency tends to rotate between developed countries because the
president’s home country is expected to pick up the costs of the
office. Wilkinson said one of his goals is to double IFAP membership by
adding more developing countries and making sure their delegates can
get to federation meetings.
He also plans to try to convince the FAO to pay the costs of IFAP
presidents so more farmers from developing countries will be able to
consider running for office.
Canadian farmers hold three IFAP executive positions for the 2002-04
term, with Wilkinson joined on the executive committee by CFA president
Bob Friesen from Wawanesa, Man., and Dairy Farmers of Canada president
Leo Bertoia from Langham, Sask.
