CropLife International, the trade association for the global plant science industry, has voiced its strong support for the Recommendations of the B20 Sustainable Food Systems & Agriculture Task Force which have recently been made public. These strategic B20 Recommendations will now be put forward to the upcoming meeting of the G20 Agriculture Ministers in Cuiabá, Brazil, and will in turn inform the Ministers’ Declaration to the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro in November.
The Recommendations set out three critical pathways towards food system transformation, reflecting and fulfilling the Task Force’s focus on climate resilience and farmer productivity. Crucially, they acknowledge that the turnkey solutions lie in new innovations and technologies teamed with science-based standards and rules-based trading systems.
These pathways are:
- Enhancing productivity growth by fostering scalable and science based innovation and promoting a more equitable sustainable productivity growth cycle
- Developing breakthrough financing modes by securing sufficient capital for a large-scale transition while monetising the value of ecosystem services
- Supporting the WTO’s rules-based multilateral agricultural trade system by eliminating market distorting barriers, through the support of actionable, science-and rules-based measures.
The Task Force, ably coordinated by the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI) under the leadership of its Chair Gilberto Tomazoni, brings together CEOs from G20 countries representing the agricultural value chain, and included as co-Chair CropLife International Chairman of the Board Livio Tedeschi (President, BASF Agricultural Solutions).
Upon publication of the Recommendations, Mr Tedeschi said: “Promoting sustainable productivity growth through access to and adoption of new technologies lies at the very heart of our collective potential to make tangible progress. The B20 Task Force upon which I have been honoured to serve as co-Chair has made Recommendations which represent a true roadmap for meaningful food system transformation. I look forward to the fruitful dialogue to come at the meeting of the G20 Agriculture Ministers and ultimately to seeing these vital components reflected in the G20 Brazil outcomes.”
Emily Rees, President and CEO of CropLife International, added: “Just as important as the development of new technologies is getting these innovations into the hands of those who will deploy them. That is why the rules-based multilateral trading system is so important. It ensures market access for farmers to diversify their income streams and improve food security. We’ve all seen how quickly an exporter can turn into an importer in the face of unpredictable climate shocks. A rules-based trading system shore us up with the necessary resilience and the Recommendations make a clear commitment to this priority.”
The Recommendations and accompanying press statement can be accessed in full here.
This press release was initially published on CropLife International and has been revised to suit Farming First’s editorial guidelines.