USCIB Participates in the Global Forum on Agriculture and OECD Committee for Agriculture Meetings

USCIB engaged with policy makers, experts, farmers, and other private sector actors at the Global Forum on Agriculture and the OECD Committee on Agriculture meetings in Paris, November 3-5. The focus on this year's Global Forum was Agricultural Resilience and Food Security in an Interconnected World, drawing on the recent experiences of farmers responding to shocks, and the lessons learned to better prepare for future disruptions.

Whitney Baird, President and CEO of USCIB, spoke in the opening panel on Current Challenges for Food Security, where she emphasized the importance of policies that are predictable, science- and risk-based, and coherent across borders, and measures that are targeted, transparent, and regularly evaluated for their effectiveness and refined where necessary.

USCIB members Natasha Santos, Head, Sustainability and Strategic Engagement at Bayer and Chair of the Food and Agriculture Committee at Business at OECD (BIAC), and Marta Zuluaga Zilbermann, Vice President, Government Relations at Cargill, also participated in the panel, Building Resilient Supply Chains in Interconnected Markets, where they addressed the recent energy and fertilizer market disruptions and prospects for strengthening investment.

Following the Global Forum, the OECD Committee for Agriculture (COAG) met to discuss issues including agricultural policy monitoring and evaluation, animal health, agricultural resilience and food security, energy-market developments, and the Global Bioeconomy Summit. BIAC's Food and Agriculture Committee also had the opportunity to present its updated strategy and priorities to COAG.

On November 6, Natalie Bidner-Swehla, Director, International Agriculture, USCIB, spoke on the opening panel of the Global Forum on Farm Policy Innovation (GFFPI) workshop in Paris. The workshop was hosted by Australia, Japan, and the Netherlands and brought together government officials, the OECD, farm policy experts, and private-sector representatives. It examined what makes agricultural policy durable and adaptive across political and market cycles. On the panel, Why Some Approaches to Public and Private Policies to Build Resilience Endure While Others Do Not, she highlighted that resilience efforts endure when the economics work across the value chain, public and private investment are complementary, and governance offers both a clear direction and the flexibility to adapt.