Hayato Niki – Montreal, Canada
Akira Banzai, president of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu), and JA-Zenchu Vice President Toru Nakaya agreed with officials representing some 6,000 Canadian milk producers on the importance of being self-sufficient in key agricultural items including dairy products.
In a meeting held in Montreal on Tuesday, Oct. 7, JA-Zenchu officials and Bruno Letendre, Chairman of Les Producteurs de lait du Québec (PLQ) and General Manager Alain Bourbeau shared their sense of crisis over the ministerial meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership member countries scheduled later this month, as they call for protection of domestic farming.
“Lawmakers have pledged to protect key agricultural products in TPP negotiations, but we hear that the United States is putting forward harsh demands,” Banzai said at the meeting. “It is important for us to make maximum use of domestic resources and work on improving food self-sufficiency.”
In Canada, the government protects the domestic dairy industry by controlling production of dairy products and limiting imports with high tariffs under the supply management system.
But PLQ officials explained that the Canadian government, while maintaining that it will protect the nation’s dairy produce, accepted the expansion of low-tariff import quota for cheese in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union, which was signed in Ottawa on Sept. 26 this year.
Bourbeau said he is worried that the government might break its promise again, considering that TPP negotiations are conducted behind closed doors.
PLQ officials said they do not want to see products that they produce domestically being imported from abroad, adding that they don’t think Canada should export pork, its main export product, to Japan to the extent of destroying Japanese pork producers.
Nakaya said he totally agrees, as he believes a nation should basically be able to secure its food supply through domestic production.
The two sides confirmed their common challenges, such as the difficulty to sell products at a profit so that farmers can continue farming. They also discussed the need to educate children to deepen their understanding for the role of agriculture in maintaining regional employment and landscapes.
JA-Zenchu officials also held a meeting with the farmers’ union L’Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec (UPA) and La Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec (FPAQ), the federation of maple syrup producers, during their visit to Canada.
(Oct. 9, 2014)