Newsletter
IICA Delegation in Canada August 2020
Issue 2020-02
IICA Canada working to boost the Latin-American and the Caribbean economy during Covid-19 IICA Canada is committed to the development of agriculture, trade, and food safety in Latin America and the Caribbean countries. Through partnerships with Canadian stakeholders and sister delegations, numerous project proposals has been developed to contribute to the improvement of the agricultural, trade and food security sectors of cooperatives and small rural communities that are been challenged by the pandemic crisis. Embracing the Andean region, IICA Canada in partnership with Cannexion, have developed a proposal to: (1) promote rural agribusiness entrepreneurship, co-operative and/or associative models and trade, especially of women farmers and processors, by strengthening Andean goat value chain competitiveness through commercial production, marketing, and the implementation of sanitary measures and food safety; (2) improve animal management and technological innovation and production in the Andean goat value chain through the implementation of animal management, adoption of improved productive genetic materials and reproductive technologies from Canada, in addition to fostering resilience to climate change in at-risk areas; and (3) foster Andean household food security by generating revenues from women’s production of artisan and added value agri-food products such as cheese, meats, skins, leather and other by products. Countries covered by this tentative project include Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Canada Office 1002—130 Albert Street Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4 Tel: 613-230-1044 Fax: 613-230-1951 iica.ca@iica.int
“Our mission is to encourage, promote and support Member States in their efforts to achieve agricultural development and rural well-being through international technical cooperation of excellence.”
iica_canada iica.int procinorte.net @procinorte
Among other projects, IICA Canada has developed a proposal in partnership with SOCODEVI that seeks to strengthen rural and indigenous cooperatives and municipalities, build more resilience in agriculture, communities and municipal governments, while fostering economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The aim is threefold: (1) to reduce poverty by generating jobs and incomes; (2) to facilitate gender equity through the integration of women and indigenous populations in the improvement of their entrepreneurial capacities, associative and cooperative organizations; and (3) to build resilience to climate change to ensure greater food security and rural territorial development as key components of rural, cultural, economic, human, social, spiritual, and local development. This project will integrate public, private, and civil society alliances, and promote a renewal of territorial municipal leadership in Honduras, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Chile. A third important project is being developed in partnership with TFO Canada and the Ministry of Agriculture in Panama (MIDA) which seeks to increase Panama’s export capacity to enter and grow their access to the Canadian market by providing tools, advice and training to agri-food companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, including on food safety regulations and requirements of Canadian buyers.
Newsletter
IICA Delegation in Canada August 2020
Issue 2020-02
Numerous Successful Hemispheric Forums on Women, Youth, Food Safety, Agribusiness. Academic Debates to Come in September IICA recently hosted several virtual regional and continental seminars which have included the participation of Canadian speakers who gave their valuable perspectives regarding the challenges and needs they are facing as a result of the current pandemic. Leading Canadian speakers included Shawn Hayes, Senior Gender Equality Specialist from Global Affairs Canada, sharing information on Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy during the Forum on Rural Women and Equity During the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Brett Rumpel, a young farmer and member of 4-H Saskatchewan, speaking at the Rural Youth Forum on Building a New Agriculture Post COVID-19. IICA also hosted other highly watched virtual sessions with renowned experts such as Dr. Rattan Lal, winner of the World Food Prize 2020, and Dr. Michael Kremer, winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, to explore the future of the Americas in promoting a more efficient and sustainable agricultural sector through precision agriculture and healthy soils among other priority issues. We are also truly delighted to now have Dr Lal as our latest IICA Chair and Goodwill Ambassador. In September 2020, IICA will launch a dialogue series with the participation of various Canadian universities along with other leading academics from across the Americas, focused on the continent’s food security future. Stay tuned! We will announce the series and where to register in September.
Working with New Partners - Cannexion, CICan, SOCODEVI, GRULA IICA does not stop! We have in the last quarter signed 3 new partnership agreements to strengthen our network, collaborations and engagement with Canadian stakeholders. In June 2020, we signed an agreement with the Société de coopération pour le développement international (SOCODEVI) aiming to support small rural indigenous agri-food cooperatives and municipalities in four countries of the Americas, namely Chile, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Honduras. Then in July 2020, an agreement with the Compost Council of Canada (CCC) was signed to strengthen organics recycling and compost industries and organizations to advance their sector performance and sustainability, with a focus on the Caribbean in addition to
their high-profile annual international organics recycling conference this fall. Also in July, IICA signed an agreement with Cannexion - a private Canadian firm - to strengthen agri-food businesses, cooperatives and organizations in the Andean goat value chain sector. We look forward to these exciting future collaborations! These initiatives and other recent activities were shared with the Group of Latin American Embassies in Canada (GRULA), during a meeting with their Ambassadors where we also presented our current efforts to address food insecurity across the Americas during the pandemic, including our valuable food security monitor, blog, hemispheric fora, regional seminars, two continental agricultural ministerial meetings and a food supply platform.
Newsletter
IICA Delegation in Canada August 2020
Issue 2020-02
Dr. Rattan Lal Honoured as IICA’s New Chair of Soil Science and Goodwill Ambassador On July 20th,, Dr. Manuel Otero, Director General of Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, recognized Dr. Rattan Lal as IICA’s Goodwill Ambassador and Chair of soil Science. The Ministers of Agriculture from Barbados, Indar Weir; Antonio Walker from Chile; Renato Alvarado from Costa Rica; Barbara Stinson, President of the World Food Price Foundation; and the administrator of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Ken Isley, on behalf of the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, Sonny Perdue, participated in this event. Dr. Lal is recognized for his for his extensive career as soil scientist, he has been awarded with the 2019 Japan Prize 'for the sustainable soil management for global food security and mitigation of climate change’ and with the 2020 prestigious World Food Prize for his contributions to increasing the global food supply by helping small farmers improve their farmland soil's health to mitigate global issues such as climate change, food security and water quality. As IICA’s Goodwill Ambassador, Dr. Lal will advocates for the sustainability and management of soil, mitigation of the climate change, improvement of food security and conservation of natural resources. These are other IICA’s awardees: • • • • •
Hugo Sigman, IICA Goodwill Ambassador for sustainable Development Issues Jens Mesa Dishington, IICA Goodwill Ambassador for sustainable Development Issues Susana Balbo, IICA Goodwill Ambassador in gender and rural youth issues Alysson Paolinelli, IICA Goodwill Ambassador in gender and rural youth issues Dennis McClung, IICA Goodwill Ambassador for sustainable Development Issues
All of them have been recognized for their contributions to promoting the ideals of the Institute as well as their personal commitment to agriculture, food security and the equitable and sustainable development of rural areas in the Americas.
Two Canadian Musicians Join IICA’s Continental Campaign to Support Farm and Food Chain Workers IICA began a campaign to pay tribute to farmers and food chain workers whose daily efforts are ensuring that consumers in the Americas continue to receive food supplies amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This campaign has brought together nearly 100 renowned artists from different countries in the Americas, who have generously participated in this popular music tribute to those who work day to day to put food on our tables. Two Canadian musicians also came on board to support this campaign, Mike Field, a jazz trumpeter, composer, and singer, as well as singer-songwriter Julio Filici. Across the Americas, numerous organizations have taken part in the tribute organized by IICA including national TV campaigns, YouTube videos and ceremonies. For instance, UNESCO Brazil Mike Field, Canadian Jazz trumpeter. and the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (ABRAS) had endorsed and became a part of this campaign. Elsewhere, in Argentina and Barbados, the campaign received the support of the country’s Ministries of Agriculture.
Newsletter
IICA Delegation in Canada August 2020
Issue 2020-02
IICA Canada now the new Executive Secretariat for PROCINORTE! PROCINORTE is a network of national agricultural research bodies in the three countries of North America: Canada, U.S. and Mexico. It supports agricultural trade, workshops and research through sound science and knowledgesharing in areas of trilateral relevance. The “Cooperative Program in Research and Technology for the Northern Region” or PROCINORTE, was stablished in 2000. Its mission is to enhance the sector’s productivity and competitiveness to improve food safety, animal and plant health, and to contribute to capacity building through technical cooperation. This mechanism is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of high-level scientists appointed by the respective governments of Canada, U.S. and Mexico. PROCINORTE has had many successes. For instance, working in partnership with IICA, Mexico’s INIFAP, and CID BIO SCIENCE, INC. (Felix Instruments), a non-destructive testing system for avocado maturity was developed. This device enables the avocado industry within the northern region to improve quality of the product, reduce waste and losses, and increase farmer profitability. Similar benefits have been found in Canadian cherries and Mexican mangoes. As the new Secretariat since July 2020, IICA Canada is committed to integrating regional cooperation in the northern region and transferring knowledge to other member countries in Latin-America and the Caribbean. We are planning several activities for 2020 including two exciting events coming up: one in animal health on “Emerging and Re-Emerging Diseases of Livestock with High Economic,” and a second in plant health on “Priority and Emerging Issues in Tomatoes,” such as the tomato brown rugose virus which has only recently been found in Canada and U.S. To learn more on the research network, register for events and recent reports, please see our website at www.procinorte.net.
UPCOMING & CURRENT EVENTS •
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Now Open! - IICA's Exhibition "The Soul of Rurality in Latin America and the Caribbean" in the Canadian Agriculture and Food Museum . August 26th. - Virtual session on “Dairy’s Role in a Responsible and Sustainable Food System”
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September - Plant health virtual conference on “Priority and Emerging Issues in Tomatoes”
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December - Animal health virtual workshop on “Emerging and Re-Emerging Diseases of Livestock with High Economic”