Canadians key in forming | World Farmers’ Organization calls on trade negotiators to find a way to end the stalemate
BALI, Indonesia — The World Farmers’ Organization made its World Trade Organization debut last week with a call for negotiators to forge a deal.
The statement from the new kid on the international farm lobby block came late in the four-day WTO ministerial conference as ministers huddled in private meetings to try to find a way out of a stalemate that was threatening to derail any prospect of a deal.
The one-page statement was likely not required reading for the negotiators.
Still, it marked another milestone for the two-year-old organization, founded in 2011 in the wake of the collapse of the 66-year-old International Federation of Agricultural Producers.
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Canada, through the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, was a key player in creating the WFO, and CFA president Ron Bonnett is on the board of directors.
He said the organization has already forged connections with international organizations and has sent representatives to global talks on climate change and water. With a new trade policy unveiled at the WTO talks, it added another connection.
“We’re fairly new and pleased at what we have done in a short time,” said Bonnett.
“Without IFAP, there was an urgency to create a new international farmers’ voice because other groups, particularly environmental organizations, were making policies on what is good for farmers without ever having been on a farm.”
WFO has a budget of close to $1 million contributed by its 50 members and spends some of it holding meetings around the world from Rome and Japan to South Africa and Indonesia.
“It is important that we have a presence in various countries,” Bonnett said.
“We don’t want it to be a North thing or a South thing but an organization that can speak for farmers everywhere.”
Members come from every continent with Russia the latest to join.
Although IFAP had 79 members, “we have a broader coverage of farmers than it had,” said Bonnett.
Its trade policy reflects what New Zealand farm leader and board member Bruce Wills, an unabashed free trader, called a compromise that took into account a range of views from farmers in different circumstances in countries ranging from developed and developing to least developed.
“We have to recognize that different farmers have different circumstances and different ideas on how to move forward,” he said.
“In New Zealand, we oppose protection and believe in free trade, but that isn’t the case for everyone.”
The WFO trade policy, which was developed over the past year, shows an embrace of positions that are usually considered contradictory.
It calls for increased trade and a reduction of protectionism while also embracing the right of countries to take what measures are deemed necessary to promote their food systems and food sovereignty.
“All countries must have the right to define their own domestic agricultural policy in order to ensure that the major concerns of their citizens are met,” it says.
“Trade rules should also permit domestic policy measures which promote stability of supplies such as safety nets, orderly marketing and supply management.”
Bonnett said the key is that farmers must be consulted before international policies are developed that affect them.
That was also IFAP’s mission before it collapsed.
Canadian Jack Wilkinson, who was IFAP president for six years, argued after his last term that the international farm voice is vital.
“I think IFAP had gained a position as the go-to farm organization when groups like the World Bank, the United Nations, IMF (International Monetary Fund) and FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) were discussing food policy and wanted a farmer view,” he said after the demise.
WFO leaders aspire to the same status.
