Farmscape for September 30, 2015

The Canadian Meat Council says it's critical to the future of Canada's agri-food sector for Canada to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a full and founding member.
Trade ministers from the 12 nations involved in negotiations aimed at creating a Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement are meeting in Atlanta, Georgia and hope to finalize an agreement this week.
Ron Davidson, the director of international trade, government and media relations with the Canadian Meat Council, says grains, oilseeds and meat depend on exports and, without exports, the agri-food sector in Canada would not exist as it is today.

Clip-Ron Davidson-Canadian Meat Council:
If this industry is going to continue to thrive and go forward it has to be based on access to world markets.
The Pacific-Asia region that this negotiation is taking place with accounts for 800,000,000 people, 40 percent of world trade and is the expanding market area of the world so we must participate in this trade agreement if we are to continue to be an export based agri-food sector.
On top of that it's absolutely critical that we be in there on the ground floor.
This negotiation is establishing the rules that are going to be governing trade as we go forward.
The landscape will change when this agreement is implemented.
There's no going back.
It will be a new path forward and it's important that Canada be there when the ground rules are established.
Secondly, if you're not there at the beginning, it's very costly to enter a trade agreement afterwards.
So the cheapest time to get in is at the front end and the best time to get in is at the front end because, if you're not there at the front end, we are going to be losing market share in our most important markets in the world as soon as this agreement starts to be implemented.

Davidson says we know from the South Korean experience that, if you get behind in market access, you're going to be behind for many years to come.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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