Northern Ontario farmer Jack Wilkinson, re-elected for an unprecedented third term as president of the largest global farmer lobby, says his priority will be to raise an alarm about the threat to small-scale developing country producers.
“An absolutely crucial issue is the plight of small-scale farmers around the world,” Wilkinson said. “We have to convince governments and international organizations that if the farmer’s position in the food chain is not strengthened, many of them will be out of business.”
It is an issue that also is being debated in Canada, although Canadian farmers and farm organizations are much stronger than they are in many countries
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The president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers said the issues range from growing concentration of agribusiness companies that supply and buy from farmers, to the growing demands for food safety and traceability in an increasingly international food market.
“There are increasing pressures on these farmers and in a lot of countries, they are not organized and cannot extract enough money from the marketplace to invest in the systems that buyers now want,” said Wilkinson. “As a result, small-scale producers are disappearing.”
He said it has been a growing theme during his four years as president of the IFAP and international organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development are at least recognizing the issue.
Wilkinson also is predicting there will be a deal in World Trade Organization talks this summer that could offer developing world farmers some marketing opportunities but also increase pressure to improve quality and food safety standards. It also could subject them to more competition.
The IFAP president said he concluded a trade deal will happen after WTO director general Pascal Lamy spoke via conference call to the recent federation general meeting in Seoul, South Korea.
“I think there will be a deal because I don’t think they politically can afford to fail,” he said. “I think there will be some concessions made in the weeks ahead that will make a deal possible, although maybe not the sweeping deal they had first promised.”
Wilkinson, a former president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said a deal may be a mixed blessing for Canadian farmers.
The end of export subsidies and subsidy cuts would be helpful but he said there will be “massive pressure” on Canada to make concessions on supply management over-quota tariffs and the Canadian Wheat Board.
“The jury is still out on whether it will be a good deal for Canada,” he said.
