Tri-National Agricultural Accord a collaborative effort for trade, development

Members of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and their state and provincial counterparts from Mexico and Canada met virtually Oct. 20 to 23 for the 29th annual Tri-National Agricultural Accord.

On Oct. 22 the Accord issued a joint communiqué underscoring the role of states and provinces in successful implementation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. NASDA President and Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles led the U.S. delegation for the conference.

“These are unprecedented times that we live in, but we all share the important positive goal of this unique accord nearly three decades in the making,” Quarles said. “Today, we’re excited to have a renewed commitment of momentum to strengthen our relationships across the North American continent and grow trade opportunities, between our countries.”

Quarles said agriculture isn’t just important, but it’s absolutely necessary across the world. Its necessity was made starkly clear during the coronavirus pandemic.

“In many ways, COVID-19 has shed a positive light on agriculture around the world, and reminds consumers, not only about where their food comes from, but it also reflects the resiliency of agriculture across the globe,” he said.

The USMCA agreement entered into force July 1, and at the Accord, Quarles said those in attendance have focused on key provisions adopted by the respective governments. Those included an expanded market access for American food and agricultural products; enhanced rules for science–based sanitary and phytosanitary measures; setting up unprecedented standards for agricultural biotechnology; new disciplines on geographic indications; significant commitments to reduce trade distorting policies; improve transparency; and ensure non-discriminatory treatment of agricultural product standards.

“This historic trade agreement was a result of hard work from our federal, and national leaders and counterparts,” Quarles said.

Each country had a brief segment with their federal agricultural leaders. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue joined Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture Victor Manuel Villalobos and Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau.

Perdue believes “we live in the best neighborhood in the world.”

“This is thanks to our three nations’ long standing commitment to free and fair trade in the consistent and free business environment that fosters innovation and economic progress,” Perdue said. “Our systems of government have allowed innovation to thrive.”

Productivity and innovation over the last 75 years in American agriculture have helped these nations produce more food with less.

“The United States has taken an innovative approach to agriculture, producing safe, healthy, and affordable food,” Perdue said. “This system needs to be the way of life for the future, if we’re able to feed a growing world.”

Collaboration key

Close collaboration is important to ensure global action that is based on science and common sense. Perdue said USMCA is designed to uphold science and modernize the regulatory environment to be more capable of handling new things like biotechnology.

“It’s great news that we have already renewed our commitment to each other with the USMCA agreement,” Perdue said. “When our three nations prosper, so does the rest of the world.”

Villalobos praised the importance of such an event in strengthening trade relations in North America. He thanked the men and women who have worked hard to put food on Mexican tables.

“All producers, farmers, distributors, suppliers and store employees in all sectors of the food chain,” he said. “It is fundamental for our partnerships to strengthen the work of our workers in the field in favor of trade.”

“North American countries have continued providing a safe food supply, and this has helped protect the work of producers,” Villalobos said. “During the next few months we will probably face some challenges of income reduction of consumers. However, with USMCA, this will revitalize the agriculture industry.”

USMCA has changed how valuable it is to be committed to promoting international trade between the three countries, according to Villalobos.

“We also need to promote economic growth in our countries while promoting also innovation and scientific knowledge,” he said. “Which also brings other challenges, and we can use to create a more competitive and better developed society.”

Roots of change

Bibeau said the accord began about the same time as the original North American Free Trade Agreement, and since then agriculture and food trade has quadrupled.

“The modernized agreements support millions of jobs in all three countries,” she said. “And it helps to foster an even more competitive, prosperous and integrated agriculture and food industry across the continent.”

According to Bibeau, during the past two decades, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico have proven free trade can accomplish great things.

“Each and every week about $2 million in agriculture and agri-food products cross our three borders,” she said. “That makes us, the largest free trading zone in the world. There’s no doubt about it. We make good food together.”

Quarles reiterated how trade is mutually beneficial to the North American countries.

“We all have a passion for understanding and promoting international trade on the North American continent,” he said. “The Tri-National Accord gives us an opportunity to review, improve and enhance an already strong trading relationship.”

The U.S. delegation comes ready to keep the momentum going as USMCA becomes implemented. Secretary Carlos Muñiz Rodríguez, Hidalgo Ministry of Agricultural Development and president of the Mexican Association of Secretaries of Agriculture and Rural Development spoke on behalf of Mexico. AMSDA is the equivalent of NASDA in the United States.

Muñiz said this meeting is a historic moment in commercial relationships because of all the challenges faced because of COVID-19 and the contraction in consumption and loss of employment.

“We want to thank those who have been able to continue promoting agriculture and the food supply to tables in all of our three countries,” Muñiz said. “This is definitely what will help us to continue improving economically, to create more equality in trade and strengthen our commercial trade relationships.”

Promoting fairness

Muñiz said Mexico has been able to amplify the relationships they have, and undoubtedly it will help improve his work in the accord, and working to promote USMCA.

“We also want to promote an agenda that also encourages development in states and provinces and this is the accord that we are committed to,” he said.

Muñiz is concerned about some of the “restricting measures” in trade and what it does to preventing growth of Mexican exports.

“We have also worked on being more inclusive and improved technologically to continue to advance cooperation and we will also always continue working on promoting with our agendas, the cooperation and integration of our producers and our products,” Muñiz said.

Manitoba Minister of Agriculture and Resource Development Blaine Pedersen led the Canadian Delegation and said the situation with COVID-19 is unprecedented and the path forward for government response and recovery is uncharted.

“Our respective food supply chains were challenged under the pandemic. Exposing that our food system is, at the same time, both resilient and fragile,” Pederson said. “For example, we saw slowdowns and shutdowns in our meat processing plants. There were labor shortages in our horticultural and beekeeping sectors.”

Food security

Food security issues concerned those in remote and northern regions of Canada and shutdowns brought to light the insufficient internet infrastructure in rural areas.

“Yet despite these challenges, crops were harvested, animals were marketed, and the supply of food did not stop because our North American supply chain is robust,” he said. “We need to acknowledge the farmers, ranchers, processors, farm workers, truckers, retailers who kept showing up under extremely trying circumstances for the health and well being of our consumers.”

According to Pederson, business relationships, established supply chains, and the resulting trade of agricultural goods and services continues because of the foundation laid by North American governments.

“First through NAFTA, and now under CUSMA,” he said. “The mantra for 2020 has been—we’re all in this together, relating to a global pandemic. It is also a great reminder that we share our borders, and now more than ever, we need to continue working together to seize the opportunities and navigate the risks.”

Pederson believes the enhanced trade from a strong North American marketplace is the cornerstone of economic recovery in the years to come. He hopes discussions about recovery from the pandemic, as well as supporting actions by state and provincial governments will help with costly trade barriers and disruptions.

“We also need to forge ahead with discussions on allowing innovation and technologies and ensuring our regulations and measures support change,” he said. “An innovative and technically enhanced agricultural sector can lead to the recovery of our respective economies.”

As mentioned by Pederson and other leaders, another disease event is looming on the horizon—African swine fever.

“This disease knows no boundaries globally, and we must prepare together for what a resilient hog industry in the future will look like, and minimize marketplace uncertainly,” he said.

Work ahead

Quarles agrees and sees more work to be done.

“The USMCA has delivered an era of modernized free and fair trade which will secure North America as the most powerful trading bloc in the world,” said Quarles. “By leveraging our growing power as a North American trade alliance, we will expand the opportunities of current and future generations of farmers. And there’s no doubt state and provincial governments play a key role in this success.”

Beyond the joint statements on the bilateral meetings with Canada and Mexico, the three countries held productive sessions on USMCA implementation, state and provincial response to COVID-19, prevention, surveillance, and rapid response to African swine fever, and the future of agriculture through innovation including gene editing.

“As state and provincial governments, we are the leaders best suited to address the local and regional concerns of our farming communities. Our mutual response efforts to the global COVID-19 pandemic are critical to the resilience of our rural communities, and strength of our increasingly more connected food supply chain,” Quarles said. “Together we will work with our federal governments to expand resource availability specifically to state and provincial agriculture departments for pandemic response efforts.”

NASDA will host the 30th Annual Tri-National Agricultural Accord in Arlington, Virginia, on Oct. 25 to 27, 2021. NASDA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit association which represents the elected and appointed commissioners, secretaries, and directors of the departments of agriculture in all 50 states and four U.S. territories. NASDA grows and enhances American agriculture through policy, partnerships and public engagement. For more information visit www.nasda.org.

Kylene Scott can be reached at 620-227-1804 or [email protected].