Session II: The world wants meat " the producers can supply"

31st Winnipeg World Meats Congress
Winnipeg, Canada June 2004

by Mr. Jack Wilkinson, President of IFAP

Mr. Chairman,

It is a pleasure for me to participate in this World Meats Congress in Winnipeg. I am a farmer from Northern Ontario, here in Canada, producing grains, oilseeds and beef cattle, and I am President of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, IFAP.

Two weeks ago IFAP held its World Farmers Congress in your country, in Washington D.C., and you welcomed us there with an excellent presentation to our meat producers group. Today we are delighted to have you come to our country.

IFAP is the world farmers’ organization. It is based in Paris, and currently has in membership 100 national farmers’ organisations, representing over 600 million farm families. Our federation is a forum, where farmers meet to share experiences and ideas. And by focusing on the many things that we have in common we try to make a contribution to policy developments at the global level.

Many of our farmers are livestock producers. They are acutely aware of the need for their operations to be sustainable. “The producers can supply”, as the session theme indicates, but farmers have to work hard to supply the products that correspond to the preferences of consumers, while at the same time also contributing to the conservation of the environment. They are conscious that animal production has an important impact on the environment. They are also conscious that consumers are more and more demanding concerning the quality of farming products, and are more and more concerned about the farming practices used to produce them.

All these concerns were highlighted in the discussion that we had during our 36th IFAP World Farmers’ Congress held 29 May - 4 June 2004 in Washington D.C. The Group on Meats and Feeds noted that increased demands by consumers concerning traceability, labelling, as well as food safety represent huge challenges for future growth. Codes of conduct for purposes of animal welfare, transport and also for the prudent use of veterinary medicines are therefore of increasing importance.

However, in recent years, global meat market has been characterized by increased instability as a result of animal disease outbreaks and escalating human health concerns. These are related mainly to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), the avian influenza, and the use of antibiotics in livestock feed. In addition, many countries have suffered from severe drought. One of the consequences has been lower income for many livestock farmers worldwide.

Thus, BSE has had tremendous negative effects on many countries. In addition, the bird flu has hit a large part of Asian export zones. These crises alone lead to $10 billion of loss in export revenues.

In many of our organisations we devote a lot of time to discussions about trade, and subsidies and the situation of developing countries. In general, advanced developing countries have gained export share over industrialised countries. There are increasing meat supplies from Brazil, Thailand and China. This latter has registered the most spectacular growth in production as well as consumption.

Trade obviously remains one of the key tools to achieve sustainable development. The common aim for our farmers is to improve their incomes by means of fair and equitable conditions for production and trade. However, benefits from trade opportunities much reach the farmers if poverty is to be eliminated and sustainable development achieved on a global basis.

There are many cases where deregulation and liberalization have resulted in severe pressure on producer prices and increases in the margins of the traders. IFAP is encouraging farmers to become more organised in the market so that they can be more equal partners in the agri-food chain. We have made a commitment to help meet this challenge by setting up a capacity-building program for farmers in developing countries. Through this development cooperation initiative, farmers’ organizations in the industrialized countries are helping to strengthen the organizations of their colleagues in the developing countries.

However, the challenge for the farming community is to produce more meat to satisfy the needs of a growing population, while respecting the environment and satisfying consumers concerns. “The world wants meat”. Indeed, at the global level, the population size increased by 10 per cent over the last 10 years while the consumption of red meat increased by 20 per cent.

The question here is how to find a balance between growing meat consumption and a sustainable livestock system?

Farmers are continually adopting production practices that are aimed at environmental conservation. We have excellent environment stewardship programs in Canada, but we can see progress in almost all countries. Farmers are not spraying or applying fertilisers at a certain distance from streams and watercourses; they are limiting stocking rates on pastures to avoid overgrazing, and they are balancing nutrients in the soils by ensuring that excess manure is moved off their land and onto specialised arable farms. Further, the handling of waste-water is being managed in line with good environmental practises.

Meat production systems in many countries are based on turning crop residues and waste products into high-quality protein for consumers. Grassland systems are using rotational grazing, which is better for meat yields and better for the environment.

Feeding systems on livestock farms are being modified in order to reduce methane emissions from cattle, which are a source of greenhouse gases.

The performance is impressive.

With the same consciousness, farmers are doing their best in responding to consumers’ concerns. This is particularly the case for food safety. It is probably the single biggest issue in livestock production in those countries which have suffered from animal disease outbreaks.

Here it is important to make a distinction between food safety and food quality. IFAP does not believe that promotion of any food product should be made on the basis of food safety. ‘Food safety’ about whether food is fit for consumption, and how consumers can be protected against food-borne health risks by public food safety regulations.

‘Food quality’ is a different notion and relates to the special characteristics of a product as a result of regional culture, or special efforts by farmers in their production practices, e.g. organic farming. These can be controlled by producer quality assurance programs, or through certification schemes for the whole product chain that guarantee quality from the stable to the table. In many industrialized countries, almost all livestock products are now sold under quality assurance programs and certification schemes.

The Codex Alimentarius, with a secretariat provided jointly by the FAO and the WHO, is today the organisation that proposes food safety standards for adoption by its Member Countries. In order to avoid problems in international trade, it is necessary to ensure that the whole food chain meets recognised international standards, such as those of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, or higher standards if these are based on a desire for a higher level of protection and can be justified on scientific grounds. Further, it is necessary to better harmonize internationally disease surveillance systems, data reporting, and diagnostic methods for food safety and quality.

Consumers are particularly sensitive to the use of antibiotics in livestock production. Although it is recognized that public health problems related to resistant bacteria is mainly due to excessive use of antibiotics in human medicine, farmers are being increasingly careful not to contribute to this problem in their use of antibiotics in livestock production.

It is important when addressing such issues that livestock producers be involved in the dialogue between medical and veterinary services. That is why IFAP will strengthen its links with the both the World Health Organisation and with OIE in the future. There is a need to develop international standards on antimicrobial resistance to enable countries to protect themselves, without at the same time setting up sanitary trade barriers, and farmers should be involved in this process.

Indeed, farmers should participate in the elaboration of all laws related to the livestock sector at both the national and international levels, in particular in the preparation of directives related to animal health.

Another area of action is animal welfare. There is a higher concern among consumers in recent years on animal welfare. Here again, farmers are being very receptive to this concern by improving the conditions of the life and transport of animals. However, farmers recognise that specific animal welfare requirements are constantly evolving, and differ according to countries

IFAP supports the idea that all meat products should be produced according to at least minimum standards of animal welfare. Competition and market demand may, however, result in specific requests for higher animal welfare production standards. It is important that animal welfare standards are based on the latest research and scientific results on the physiological and behavioural needs of animals, and take into account the effects of production methods on the health status of the animals.

The international community and decision makers in some countries are trying to set up norms for animal protection on the farm, during transport and at the time of slaughter. Thus, animal welfare was identified as a priority in the 2001-2005 OIE Strategic Plan. But there is still no agreement at international level of such norms. In addition, the WTO SPS agreement does not cover animal welfare issue.

Again, the farming community should participate in the process of the establishment of appropriate norms so that they are both realistic and effective in meeting their objectives.

Regarding animal feeding, another area of consumer’s health concerns, farmers have been prudent in using animal proteins and fats of animal origin into fed to ruminants and other farmed animals. This has been a priority following the BSE crisis and the discovery of the role of the meat-and-bone meal as the principal infection factor.

“The world wants meat and the producers can supply”.

However there are costs involved in developing traceability systems, meeting environment standards and consumers concerns.

In most industrialised countries, governments have put in place strict regulatory frameworks. However, governments - working in the public interest - need to finance the overall costs of traceability and environmental programs. The costs to individual farmers of having livestock passports so that the movements of an animal can be traced throughout its life, or the costs of manure storage tanks for 180-200 days manure when farmers are not allowed to spread in the winter months are prohibitive. And under the WTO, these payments are allowed as green box payments.

Special difficulties are faced by farmers in developing countries in meeting ever more stringent food safety and quality standards for their products. More international assistance is urgently required in overcoming these difficulties. In most developing countries, agriculture and livestock are the drivers of their economies, and represent their way out of poverty and underdevelopment. Much greater efforts are therefore needed in order to help developing countries set-up livestock programs, and strengthen health and veterinary services. Assistance is also needed to improve extension systems for farmers in developing countries to improve their knowledge on food safety, as well as to transfer appropriate technology.

Sustainability issues are also a huge challenge for farmers in most developing countries. Most of the time, the practice of extensive production systems has been made at the expense of other natural resources such as destruction of rain forests. In some cases, conflict between agricultural producers and livestock producers for the use of land is unsolved and remains a constraint without any perspective of land reform.

Most developing countries have financial as well as technical constraints that prevent them from implementing food safety and quality schemes, and environmental programs. For that, there is an urgent need at international as well as bilateral levels to assist them in this task.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, you can see that the farming community has not been sitting still on these issues. Farmers strive to use the best farming methods available resulting from technological and scientific progress, and they strive to manage their farms in a sustainable manner.

We have a good story to tell. But farmers need to come closer to consumers to explain the practices and ethics of modern commercial farming, as well as the high level of professionalism and responsibility with which they approach their farming.

And we do believe that a strong collaboration between farmers, researchers, governments and other stakeholders is critical in continuing to make progress in producing high quality products, at very reasonable prices while at the same time preserving the environment.