I’ll tell you about the green food war between the US and the EU
The opposing views of the US and the EU on pesticides and organic products will drive up prices. The article by Tino Oldani for Italy Today
On September 23, one of the many UN summits took place in New York, the summit on food systems, which was to end like almost all UN meetings: a lot of chatter that leaves things as they are. This time it didn't happen that way. It was understood from the interview that the US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, released to Politico after the summit: a frontal attack on EU agricultural policy that could raise new trade barriers between US and European agricultural products, with inevitable repercussions on the prices of the food we consume every day.
The premise of this war is very simple: agricultural and food production are considered responsible for about one third of greenhouse gas emissions. Hence the decision of the EU to impose a radical change on the agriculture of member countries, in line with the Green Deal : drastically reduce the use of pesticides, halving them by 2030, and extend organic crops so that they cover a quarter of European agricultural land. This strategy, valid for a decade, has been given the name of Farm to fork (From the farm to the fork), with the aim of making the entire European agricultural policy environmentally sustainable.
For Vilsack, the European strategy is "a recipe for disaster", which will reduce crops, raise food prices and threaten food security on a global scale. Its implementation in the 27 EU countries, according to a study by the US Department of Agriculture, will reduce world food production by 11%, while prices could rise by 89%. "It is clear that the United States and the European Union are following different paths," Vilsack said. “The world must be nourished, and it must be sustainably. But we cannot sacrifice one goal for the other ». In essence, the Joe Biden administration reiterates its support for US agricultural lobbies, which have always favored the use of pesticides and GM crops, first of all genetically modified corn. And it acts in perfect continuity with Donald Trump, who had attacked the EU agricultural turnaround by stating that, if it were followed by other countries, there would be a global famine in the world.
Thus, after the disagreements on the withdrawal from Afghanistan and on the Aukus submarines, between Washington and Brussels the debate on the food of the future starts, which for Europe must be green, whatever the cost, while for the USA the quantity comes before the environmental sustainability. A principle that the US considers indispensable if you want to feed the whole world. This is why Vilsack is working hard to prevent the European example from being followed by any country in the two Americas, a fear more than well founded after Mexico introduced a ban on glyphosate, the most contested herbicide in the world, and for GMO corn.
It goes without saying that the major US agricultural lobbies are alongside Vilsack. For David Salmosen, a leading exponent of the American farm bureau federation, the largest organization of American farmers, the European Farm to fork strategy "could translate into new trade barriers between the two sides of the Atlantic in the trade of agricultural products". All this to the disadvantage of American producers, already in difficulty in exporting meat, due to European safety standards, which prohibit the import of hormone-containing meats.
In response, says Politico , the head of the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, vice president of the EU Commission, reiterated that the productivity of European agriculture “must no longer be fundamental. In the past, we have created a system that has pushed farmers to continuously increase production. But that system has exploited the earth beyond its limits: this is why we must stop calculating success based on the number of carts of food we produce ». Hence the EU-US clash: quality versus productivity, green food versus genetically modified corn and hormone-based steaks.
The billions at stake are many, and the big industries in the sector, those of pesticides and GM crops in the lead, are working to convince some European countries to question the Farm to fork plan. As it happens, the lobbies of European farmers Copa and Cogeca expressed their concern about the potential drop in agricultural production and asked the EU Commission to investigate the consequences of the green strategy, which also provides for a lower disbursement of agricultural subsidies than in the past. , and risks hitting the industry too hard. Complaints so far ignored by the EU summit, which remains compact. Indeed, it could even give another turn of the screw.
In the first half of next year, the rotating presidency of the EU will be up to France, in the midst of the race for the Elysée. An opportunity that Emmanuel Macron wants to take full advantage of to be re-elected, so much so that he has already leaked to French farmers that he will do everything possible for the EU to adopt new measures to restrict imports from countries that the EU considers to have lower standards than those in Europe, especially in the use of agrochemicals. In his sights, it is evident, there is Joe Biden, anxious to take revenge for the snatching of the contract on nuclear submarines. And for US farmers this is not good news.
Article published on ItaliaOggi
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/vi-racconto-la-guerra-del-cibo-green-fra-usa-e-ue/ on Sat, 02 Oct 2021 05:20:26 +0000.