Ad development priority on US agenda

April 26, 2012 - The U.S. government has made major strides toward putting agricultural development back at the top of its foreign assistance agenda, reversing a three-decade long downward trend in U.S. global food security activities, says a new report issued by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The 2012 Progress Report on U.S. Leadership in Global Agricultural Development (PDF) is the second in a series of annual reports tracking changes to the U.S. government’s global agricultural development policy. The non-partisan assessment, issued by the Council’s Global Agricultural Development Initiative, examines how these changes have contributed to U.S. leadership in improving global food security. The Initiative is cochaired by Catherine Bertini, former executive director, UN World Food Program, and Dan Glickman, former secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

“It is clear that the U.S. government has begun to develop and implement a focused strategy for global agricultural development, with well-defined goals and benchmarks,” said Bertini. “Renewed U.S. efforts are helping further the plans of African, Asian, and Latin American country governments to revitalize their agricultural sectors, spur economic growth, and alleviate poverty.”

The report finds that under the direction of Secretary Clinton and Administrator Shah, both the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development are showing “outstanding” leadership in advancing these issues. The Millennium Challenge Corporation, via its activities to bolster agricultural infrastructure in developing countries, is also making “outstanding” contributions to renewing U.S. leadership. 

Congress receives a “good” evaluation for making policy changes and appropriating substantial resources for food security in a difficult budget environment. The U.S. Department of Agriculture receives a “good” evaluation and the Peace Corps a “satisfactory” evaluation for their respective contributions. The study also examines how the changes in Washington have led to higher levels of U.S. agricultural development activity in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Bangladesh.

The report concludes that while this recent progress should be celebrated, the hard work is just beginning. “The 2012 Progress Report is best viewed as a midterm evaluation of U.S. leadership in what must be a long-term effort, rather than a final grade on a finished job,” said Glickman.  “The challenge in the years to come will be to maintain this level of leadership and resourcing for the decade or more needed to bring tangible benefits to the developing world’s agriculturalists - and to our global food security.”

The food price crisis of 2008 spurred renewed international and U.S. attention to the challenge of global food insecurity. In 2009 President Obama pledged to double U.S. support for global agricultural development and Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Robert Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation to make food security a higher priority for U.S. foreign assistance. This same year, The Chicago Council released its seminal report entitled Renewing American Leadership in the Fight Against Global Hunger and Poverty (PDF). This report put forward a comprehensive strategy for revitalizing U.S. global agricultural development activities and funding.  

More than half of the world’s population living on less than $1.25 a day reside in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Food production will need to increase by 70 percent in the coming decades to overcome the challenge of global hunger, alleviate poverty through increasing the incomes of rural populations, and meet the growing demand for food. A key component to increasing food production and alleviating global poverty will be investments in developing country agriculture and food systems. - The Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Symposium tackles red tape challenges

As if feeding 9 billion people by 2050 was not enough of a challenge for the food industry, ever-evolving regulations can create confusion and significantly impede progress. 
Meanwhile, says Alltech, when news of food safety issues go viral, families who are already far-removed from the farm become wary of the entire supply chain and the organizations safeguarding it. The regulatory landscape presents a challenging environment for any farmer or food producer, also facing the formidable foes of economic woes and unpredictable weather patterns.
Alltech’s 28^th Annual International Symposium, held May 20 – 23 in Lexington, Kentucky, will address these challenges through its dedicated regulatory session, featuring expert speakers from leading regulatory organizations and influencers.  
“Agriculture is at a crossroad between competitiveness, trade, safety and sustainability. Minimum standards of feed safety are often not enough. Businesses are going beyond these minimum standards for several reasons including strict retailer procurement policies, brand/reputation management and consumer demand. This regulatory session will address both feed safety and trade against the backdrop of these competing demands,” said Jean Kennedy, European regulatory affairs manager for Alltech.
Regulatory focused session topics will include:
Feed Safety

• Key Challenges to Sub-Saharan Feed Safety and Regulation
• Food Safety Modernisation Act
• Japanese Case Study: Crisis Management
• Quality Assurance – A marketing ploy or a risk reduction strategy?

Feed Trade

• Ensuring Compliance Across International Boundaries
• Do Better Standards Mean Safer, Better Foods?
• 5 Trends that Might Concern You – Reviewing the regulatory scene
• Feeding 9 billion people: A unique challenge for the world’s feed industry

Featured presenters at the regulatory session will be De Wet Boshoff, executive director of the African Feed Manufacturers Association; Mario Cutait, chairman of the International Feed Industry Federation; Joe Hain, deputy director, Processed Products and Technical Regulations Division, Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Keith Millar, head of Animal Feed Unit and Secretary to the Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs, Food Standards Agency, United Kingdom; Joel Newman, president of the American Feed Industry Association; Ashley Peterson, National Chicken Council, United States; Katsuaki Sugiura, professor at the University of Tokyo Research Center for Food Safety; Patrick Wall, professor of Public Health at the University College Dublin, Ireland.
Other invited and confirmed roundtable participants include representatives from Argentina (SENASA), Chile (SAG), China (MOA and ZAoAS), Ecuador (AGROCALIDAD), Guatemala (MAG), the Dominican Republic (SEA), Mexico (SAGARPA) and Peru (SENASA).
Additional information on the regulatory session is available at www.alltech.com/symposium-sessions/regulatory. The 2012 Symposium will be the forum for more than 100 presentations by industry experts, including experts from Domino’s Pizza, Jack in the Box, Wendy’s, Nestle, Murphy-Brown, Future Farmers of America, PetSmart and the Harvard School of Business.

World food prices remain stable

World food prices in March remained virtually unchanged from their February levels, according to the latest FAO Food Price Index, published last week. The Index averaged 216 points in March, compared to 215 in February.

Among the various commodity groups, only oils prices showed strength, whereas dairy prices fell.

The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 227 points in March, up 1 point from February. Maize prices registered some gain, supported by low inventories and a strong soybean market, but wheat changed little as supplies remained ample. After several months of declines, prices of rice recovered somewhat in March, underpinned by large purchases by China and Nigeria.

The FAO Oils/Fats Price index rose in March to 245 points, up 6 points or 2.5 percent from February, as markets reacted to the prospect of growing tightness in the 2011/12. Weak growth in world palm oil production and limited global soy oil export availabilities combined with declining rapeseed production contributed to the rise in oils prices.

The FAO Meat Price Index averaged 178 points in March, up marginally from  the previous month, sustained by a slight rise of bovine meat price but still reaching an all time high. Prices of pig meat and sheep meat changed little, while they weakened in the case of poultry amid slowing import demand and generally ample export availabilities. On average, meat prices in the first quarter were 3.5 percent higher than last year.

The FAO Dairy Price Index averaged 197 points in March, down 5 points or 2.5 percent from February and registered the lowest level since August 2010. All the dairy products showed weakness last month, in particular butter, as well as skim milk powder and casein. Since reaching record levels in March 2011, dairy prices have followed a downward trend, as supplies rose in Oceania, Europe and North America. As a result, prices in the first quarter were 12 percent lower in 2012 than last year.

The FAO Sugar Price Index averaged 342 points in March, and remained unchanged from February but was 30 points or 8 percent lower than in March 2011. Overall, sugar prices were volatile, as the market looked for direction ahead of the beginning of the new season in Brazil, the world's largest sugar producer and exporter. India, the EU and Thailand, have all reported increased output, which contributed to keeping prices below their high levels of last season.

Cereal stocks expected to rise

The forecast for world cereal carryover stocks in 2012 has been raised by 1 million tonnes over the previous month to 519 million tonnes.  Much of the upward revision relates to expectations of higher rice inventories.

At the current forecast level, the world cereal stocks-to-use ratio in 2011/12 reaches 22.1 percent, up slightly from 21.7 percent in 2010/11.  Among the major cereals, rice inventories are forecast to increase the most - by 11 million tonnes to 152 million tonnes, the highest level since 2000. Wheat stocks are also expected to rise sharply by 7 million tonnes to 196 million tonnes, the second highest level since 2003; however, coarse grains stocks could decline by nearly 3 million tonnes to 171 million tonnes, the lowest level since 2008.

Early outlook for 2012/12

The FAO's production forecast for wheat in 2012 remains at 690 million tonnes, 1.4 percent below the record in 2011 and unchanged from last month. In spite of this decline, world wheat supplies in 2012/13 would still exceed projected need because of large inventories, according to this month's report. Rice markets also appear to be well supplied in 2012/13 given consecutive years of record production which have helped boost inventories. However, coarse grain supplies will be particularly tight in the coming months, especially for maize in the United States, the world's largest producer and exporter.