Vilsack notes focus on food security, small farmers at G7 meeting  | TheFencePost.com

News News | Sep 30, 2024

In a call to reporters from Italy, where the G7 agriculture ministers were meeting, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that U.S. efforts on both addressing global food security and aiding small farmers worldwide are in line with other G7 countries.

The G7 is composed of the world’s biggest, wealthiest industrialized democracies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Three young Americans who are part of the Agriculture Department’s “Gen Z” initiative made presentations to the ministers, Vilsack said. There were three representatives from each country, he added.

The presenters emphasized U.S. efforts on climate-smart agriculture, regional food systems to transform the food system, Vilsack said.

The G7 ministers showed an interest in focusing on Africa, recognizing that the continent represents both an opportunity and a challenge in producing enough food for its growing, young population.

Vilsack said he was glad that USDA had established the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, which allows for the promotion of U.S. agricultural products outside the traditional markets of Mexico, Canada, China and the European Union.

He said a conversation about the importance of sustainable fishing and aquaculture, which the Italian hosts had organized, showed that USDA’s decision to “broaden its portfolio” by helping fishing and aquaculture in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska was “consistent” with other G7 efforts.

There were discussions about emerging technologies including gene editing, but no specific discussions about plant-based or “fermented” protein production, he said.

Vilsack said he also engaged in several bilateral meetings with his counterparts.

With the German and European Union ministers, Vilsack said he discussed the EU deforestation initiative and suggested it “needs more work, needs to be delayed” because at present “there is no distinction” between countries that are cutting down trees and those that are not.

Also with the Europeans, Vilsack said he discussed information that the EU might require testing beef and pork for “things we haven’t used for 50 years.”

With Japan, Vilsack said, he discussed expanding market for potatoes and sustainable aviation fuel.

With Italy, he said he discussed geographical indicators and his view that they should not restrict the use of common names for cheeses.

In response to questions, Vilsack also repeated his previous statements that Congress needs to be “practical” about writing a new farm bill and either find more money to raise the reference prices that trigger farm subsidy payments or lower their expectations.

He also said the agriculture secretary needs to keep authority over the Commodity Credit Corporation line of credit at the Treasury to deal with problems in agriculture.

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