20 June 2011

Representatives of the French farming world have made it clear that they intend to see to it that no half measures are made towards agricultural policy by the G20, who will be meeting in Paris this week. The G120, a gathering of agricultural groups from around the world, was organised with the aim of debating and forming a unified stance from which to lobby the world leaders. image expired

Bruno LeMaire, the French minister for agriculture, said on Friday at the farming summit that “the smoke will either be black or white.” The summit has been organised by FNSEA (French agricultural union) and the Young Farmers union. Over the course of the negotiations an accord will have to be reached on five points of a ‘plan of action’ before a final agreement is signed to “prevent the 21st century from becoming one of world hunger.”

The talks, which began on Thursday (16th), cover the projected increase in demand, extreme price instability and the impacts of climate change; those present want to send a strong message to the politicians and policy makers of the G20 this week.

Five points explored

A consensus was developing on Friday around the idea that each country, and developing nations in particular, should be largely self-sufficient. Agriculturalists at the talks said this implied an increase in investment both public and private in agriculture. Although the action plan developed by the French unions also demands that countries cooperate and share information, especially in cases where they must close their borders to manage a crisis, as with the Russian drought last year.

Transparency on production, stockpiling and emergency reserves, and regulation on financial speculation are also the topics of ongoing negotiations.

M LeMarie acknowledged that bringing together representatives of the 20 largest economic powers in the world and influencing their opinions will not be easy. Prescient of the challenge he would face, he said “My first observation upon taking up this charge ten months ago was that it would be extremely difficult to forge an agreement.”

The difficulties the G120 members face are many; demanding transparency from countries who lack the will or the statistical tools to reveal their stocks, persuading countries such as Australia which has a clear interest in the free-market to increase regulation, or convincing Argentina and Brazil that limiting the volatility of prices is in the interests of their farmers will all be challenging.

However, Bruno LeMaire gravely predicted that, if an accord is not reached by Thursday, “There will not be a second meeting for world agriculture.” NFU President Peter Kendall applauded the French efforts last week. In a statement Kendall said, “I congratulate our French colleagues on bringing so many farming groups together, that's no mean feat.”