Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture at OECD | WPN World People News

Population growth and increasing prosperity are driving and changing global demand for agricultural products, while other challenges, like climate change and increased competition for limited natural resources like land and water, loom on the horizon.

Ministers of Agriculture from OECD countries and partner economies worldwide will meet in Paris on 7-8 April 2016, to discuss Better Policies to Achieve a Productive, Sustainable and Resilient Global Food System. The meeting, to be co-chaired by Stéphane Le Foll, Minister of Agriculture, Agrifood, and Forestry of France, and Tom Vilsack, United States Secretary of Agriculture, will explore the new policies needed to achieve widely shared interests and will offer the opportunity for ministers to discuss how to ensure that existing policies shift in these directions more quickly.

Agriculture Ministers last met at the OECD in February 2010, in the midst of volatile world food markets. Six years later, Ministers will assess whether the policies that governments are pursuing are well targeted to address emerging issues and public priorities. The ministerial meeting will:

● allow for the exchange of ideas about the policies which would best allow the agricultural sector to respond to future opportunities and challenges, and how to best manage the transition to a new policy framework;

● cover the entire food chain, with a strong focus on the knowledge and innovation systems needed to achieve sustainable productivity growth;

● discuss how to strengthen global collaboration, including through trade, science and technology and education and advisory services; and

● reflect on how the food system can contribute to the overall performance of economies, and on how policy settings can be more conducive to achieving sustainable productivity growth in the global food system.

Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development