IICA launches Dialogue for Agricultural Policies in the Americas this thursday

San Jose, Costa Rica, October 8, 2014 (IICA). The IICA Office in Brazil, the IICA Office in the United States, and the Center for Strategic Analysis for Agriculture (CAESPA) have created an opportunity for dialogue in the Americas regarding agricultural policies through a series of 12 virtual policy seminars. The objective of this dialogue is to support IICA’s member countries in defining their agricultural policies, keyed to the construction of the post-2015 development agenda.

Agriculture has a major role to play in responding to the urgent need to strengthen food security, and to ensure inclusive economic and social development, and environmental sustainability, in line with the Millennium Development Goals and the discussions surrounding the post-2015 development agenda.

Given the challenge of having policies and institutions consistent with the trends, challenges, and opportunities of the future, this series of seminars serves to establish a mechanism for dialogue among IICA’s member countries to facilitate awareness, analysis and identification of lessons that can be applied to the specific conditions of each country.

The Dialogue for Agricultural Policies in the Americas will feature speakers and panelists that will create a dialogue to exchange information and knowledge on agricultural policies in different parts of the world and in the countries of the Americas. They will reflect on future challenges for countries in the Americas on issues such as agricultural policy and food security, productivity, natural resource management, climate change, social impacts (feminization, youth and urban-rural migration), agricultural trade, and comprehensive risk management.

The cycle of seminars begins in its first stage with the US agricultural policy on 9 October 2014, followed by Brazil, Canada, Chile, Argentina and Mexico. These seminars will be disseminated using the Institute’s information and communication technologies and taking advantage of the operating capacity of the IICA Offices. If you would like to participate and view the first seminar, it will take place at 12:15pm eastern time. The seminar can be viewed on the webpage in English or Spanish.

The first seminar will focus on the U.S. Agricultural Act of 2014 also known as the U.S. Farm Bill which was recently reformulated and included significant changes to make the agricultural sector more market oriented. This has strengthened efforts to develop comprehensive risk management programs, and included new programs and instruments to address emerging issues that pose challenges for the development and sustainability of agriculture in the future.

This initiative is aligned with the new institutional priorities set forth in the IICA’s 2014-2018 Medium Term Plan and with IICA’s commitment to contribute to supporting the transformations needed to promote competitive, sustainable and equitable agriculture in the Americas.

For further information: 
joaquin.arias@iica.int
andrea.restrepo@iica.int