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“We expect that the U.S. will bring
itself into compliance with its WTO
obligations by May 2013 as determined
by the arbitrator for the benefit
of producers on both sides of the
border,” Canadian agriculture minister
Gerry Ritz and trade minister Ed
Fast said in a Dec. 4 statement.
Canadian Cattlemen’s Association
president Martin Unrau from Manitoba
said the CCA would continue to
work with “its U.S. allies and counterparts
to develop a solution that eliminates
the discrimination of Canadian
cattle in the U.S. market.”
But with some American cattle lobbyists
pushing Congress for regulatory
changes rather than a change to
designate all animals processed in a
federal U.S. plant as a “product of the
U.S.A.” no matter where the animal
came from, there was skepticism on
NEWS THE WESTERN PRODUCER | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | DECEMBER 13, 2012
TRADE | FROM PAGE ONE
World Trade Organization issues deadline on U.S. labelling
COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN LABELLING TIMELINE
Sept. 30, 2008: Countryof-origin
labelling
(COOL) legislation was
implemented by the U.S.
on an interim basis and
enacted March 16, 2009.
Dec. 1, 2008: Canada
initially requested World
Trade Organization consultations
with the U.S.
Consultations were held
Dec. 16 with participation
from Mexico.
FOOD PRODUCTION | WORLD HUNGER
BY ROBIN BOOKER
SASKATOON NEWSROOM
The Global Institute for Food Security
expects to bring new research
money to Saskatchewan and improve
local and global food systems.
The institute, established at the
University of Saskatchewan, hopes to
make itself heard on policy initiatives
to improve interactions between the
various parts of the food system.
It will also conduct agronomic
research, including breeding for
higher yield, improving processing
traits, looking at how soil quality
affects the nutritional value of crops
and adapting prairie zone crops to
available soil and water.
PotashCorp contributed $35 million
to the institute, which is the largest
donation in the company’s history,
while the provincial government committed
$15 million over seven years.
University president Ilene Busch-
Vishniac said during a Dec. 10 ceremony
that the institute will use a system-wide
approach to improving
food security, not just by improved
crop production but also by promoting
new policies that help ensure
food gets to where it’s needed.
“Unlike some existing food security
institutes, who focus on a piece of the
problems, we are determined to find
solutions across the entire food system
— from field to fork,” Busch-
Vishniac said.
Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall
said the need to increase food production
in the province is as much a moral
imperative as it is an economic one.
“Today there are nearly 900 million
people, one in eight among us, who
live on this planet that are chronically
malnourished. An estimated 50 million
children under the age of five go
to bed hungry every night,” Wall said.
June 5, 2009: Canada
held a further round
of consultations with
the U.S. on COOL. The
consultations did not
resolve the issue.
Oct. 7, 2009: Canada
requested a WTO
panel, and on Nov.
19 the panel was
established.
May 20, 2011: The
WTO panel provided
its confidential interim
report to the involved
countries.
“Saskatchewan will play a role disproportionate
to its population, but
one that is proportionate to the challenge
and to the opportunities of
both sides of the border that real
change is in the works.
In Calgary, CCA executive vicepresident
Dennis Laycraft said a portion
of the American agricultural lobby
wants “a regulatory fix that would
make the rules more difficult versus
the mainstream groups that would
like to get rid of the discrimination.”
The new U.S. Congress does not
convene until January and its politi-
July 29, 2011: The
WTO panel provided
its final report to the
parties to the dispute
on a confidential
basis.
Nov. 18, 2011: A decision
was circulated to members
finding against the COOL
rules as being protectionist.
feeding a hungry world”
Global food production will have to
increase by 70 percent to feed an estimated
population of nine billion by
cal divisions signal that any agreement
on contentious issues such as
COOL will be difficult.
President Barack Obama has yet to
indicate whether it is an issue the
White House is willing to take on.
However, if the U.S. fails to comply
on time, Canada’s option is to take it
to a compliance panel that would
drag out the already lengthy WTO
process. If Canada can convince the
June 29, 2012: With no
American movement, an
appellate body of the WTO
issued a judgment that the
U.S. had to comply.
Dec. 4, 2012: After a
Canadian appeal for
arbitration, the U.S. was
ordered to comply by
May 23, 2013.
Source: George Morris Centre, staff research | WP GRAPHIC
2050, Wall said.
PotashCorp chief executive officer Bill
Doyle said farmers will need to produce
as much grain in the next 50 years as
3
panel that the U.S. is not in compliance
with a ruling, “that is the path
that ends up in retaliation and
duties,” said Laycraft.
In Ottawa, Liberal trade critic
Wayne Easter, a veteran of Canada-
U.S. trade disputes, said there is little
chance Washington will comply.
“I’m very doubtful,” he said. “It
doesn’t look like they will fully comply
and then what do we do? Applying
tariffs is an option we would have
to seriously consider.”
However, trade watchers warned
against triggering a trade war even
though COOL has been blamed for
causing Canadian livestock and pork
industries hundreds of millions of
dollars in lost revenue because many
U.S. slaughter and processing plants
do not want to take Canadian animals
or if they do, discount their price
because of added labelling costs and
consumer reaction.
Still, Canadian officials called the
ruling by arbitrator Giorgio Sacerdoti
a win because the U.S. had
argued for a much longer compliance
period.
New institute tackles global hunger
Global Institute for Food Security | University receives funding from PotashCorp, provincial government
PotashCorp’s Bill Doyle, University of Saskatchewan president Ilene Busch-Vishniac and Saskatchewan
premier Brad Wall unveil the Global Institute for Food Security at the university. | ROBIN BOOKER PHOTO
70 percent
GLOBAL FOOD PRODUCTION MUST INCREASE BY
TO FEED THE WORLD’S POPULATION BY 2050
they have in the past 10,000 years.
“The crop nutrients that we produce
— nitrogen, phosphate and
potash — are responsible for as
much as half of the world’s crop
yield,” said Doyle.
“In many developing regions, farmers
are still trying to feed their families
with soils badly deficient in basic
nutrients, using farming methods
that limit their productivity. With the
knowledge, resources and commitment
that we have in Saskatchewan,
we can advance food solutions to
help the world.”
The University of Saskatchewan is
cutting programs and staff to trim $45
million from its annual budget, but
Busch-Vishniac said there are limits
to how much the private investment
will direct research.
“This institute will be treated as
every other institute on campus,” she
said. “There will be a board that has
some representation of our partners,
but they will only set broad strategic
direction, and everything that is
done in this institute will have the
same guarantees of academic freedom
that are common for everything
we do on this campus.”
Wall said the government is hoping
additional private partners will
become involved with the institute.
Garth Patterson, executive director
of the Western Grains Research
Foundation, said the organization
invests more than $6 million of producers’
money a year in crop variety
development and agronomic
research. The new institute will likely
attract some of the money, he added.
“We plan to increase funding by $15
million over the next four years and I
am confident that the university’s
increased research capacity will
attract a portion of this funding,” Patterson
said.