Welcome to our third edition of 2017!
It is my pleasure to share with you, some of the activities and products achieved by the work of IICA’s professionals around the hemisphere during the months of May and June 2017. The variety of topics that are covered, are only a small representation of the wide commitment of our Institute to support our Member Countries’ efforts to achieve a more competitive, sustainable and inclusive agricultural sector and to improve their rural well-being.
Since its establishment, almost 75 years ago, IICA has been the specialized technical agency of the Inter-American system for the promotion of agriculture and rural well-being in the Western Hemisphere. As envisioned in 1942 by its founder, then-US Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, the Institute has strengthened hemispheric cooperation towards a more competitive, inclusive and sustainable agricultural sector that is able to feed the region and the world. Focusing on agricultural health and food safety, food security, agribusiness and trade, technology and innovation, risk management, sustainable natural resource management, and inclusive rural development, IICA’s permanent presence in each of its 34 Member States gives it an unrivaled advantage to facilitate, inform, and advance improved agricultural policies and practices in the Americas.
The months covered in this edition of our Newsletter were extremely busy. Internally, IICA announced the call for candidacies to occupy the Director General position for the period 2018-2022. The new Director General for IICA should be elected during the upcoming meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture this October. Also in May, IICA conducted an internal review of the progress of the Flagship Projects and defined steps to strengthen them and to assure that they will deliver clear and transparent results by the end of their life. This meeting was an important milestone in the cycle of the new cooperation model started in 2014.
Domestically, the news that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would be renegotiated, has generated a renewed interest in the agricultural sector of the three participant countries to work together to strengthen the competitiveness of the region, promote the development of a more inclusive and responsible trade and to continue to create certainty for trade and investment. Despite the fact that the US has the most progressive agricultural sector in the world, producers are facing very difficult times. Profitability for farmers has been declining for three years in a row, and although USDA projects that income will slightly increase in 2017, the reality is, that farmers are facing difficult times. Free trade and expansion of markets are more critical than ever for US farmers. On September 22nd, 2017, IICA will be conducting a dialogue to analyze “The Future of Agri-food Trade in the Northern Region: The Voice of the Producers”, from which we hope to identify common and critical issues that affect agricultural producers in the region and share them with policy and decision makers.
I sincerely hope you find the pieces featured in this newsletter interesting and I invite you to contact us with your comments or suggestions. I also invite you to consider IICA as one of your partners of choice for the development of agriculture and to improve living conditions in rural areas.
Sincerely,
Dr. Miguel García-Winder, IICA Representative in the USA, Head of CAESPA
*The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and they do not reflect the position of the Institute on the topics presented.
*This post appears in the IICA Delegation in the USA Newsletter – May – June 2017
