FUW IN DISCUSSIONS WITH USA AGRICULTURE OFFICIALS

THE Farmers’ Union Wales has met senior officials from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) at its Aberystwyth headquarters to discuss global agricultural issues of mutual concern.

The talks, attended by FUW President Gareth Vaughan, US Counsellor for Agricultural Affairs Rodrick McSherry, and policy staff from the FUW and the USDA, covered diverse topics ranging from the future direction of World Trade Organisation discussions on agriculture to the impact of global warming on world food production.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Vaughan said: "The USA is one of the major players in terms of global agriculture and we clearly share many mutual concerns regarding the impact that future challenges will have on agriculture."

One of the main topics discussed was a recent deal struck between the EU and the USA that will allow the EU to continue its long-standing ban of imports of US beef treated with growth hormones while allowing an extra 20,000 tonnes of conventional US beef to be imported annually for the next three years.

The deal marks the most significant movement over the stalemate for more than 20 years and will see the amount of hormone-free beef imported from the USA rising to 45,000 tonnes in the fourth year. The US would also withdraw its threat to implement sanctions against different EU products every six-months.

"The impact that this agreement will have is obviously a concern and something that we will be monitoring" said Mr Vaughan.

"However, the bottom line is that allowing beef produced with the aid of hormones to compete against Welsh beef would be unacceptable."

Also discussed was the development of alternatives to fossil fuels.

"This is clearly an area where major advances are now being made and institutes such as IBERS at Aberystwyth are making important contributions to the development of new technologies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels," said Mr Vaughan.

"We were therefore interested to learn of how the new green agenda being implemented by President Obama is likely to impact on the development of technologies that will be essential to future agricultural production," added Mr Vaughan.

Pictured above (left to right) are USDA Agricultural Marketing Specialist Jennifer Wilson, US Counsellor for Agricultural Affairs Rodrick McSherry, FUW Policy Director Nicholas Fenwick, FUW President Gareth Vaughan, and FUW Policy Officer, Hazel Wright.