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Agricultural negotiations at the WTO
EMERSON MUST TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DAVOS TO CALL FOR POSITIVE RESULTS FOR SUPPLY MANAGEMENT

"We appreciate the support expressed on several occasions by Mr. Harper and his Ministers for the sectors under supply management - milk, poultry and egg production. However, we are very worried that, to date, Canada, unlike other countries, has not succeeded in obtaining concrete measures that will let it protect its sensitive sectors. A few weeks before publication of a new "modalities" document, it is urgent that Canadian Ministers intervene directly with their counterparts from other countries to obtain positive conditions for our sectors. Davos is a golden opportunity that must be seized at all costs," said Christian Lacasse, GO5 Coalition spokesman and UPA President.

Supply management, practised by Canada for nearly 40 years in milk, poultry and eggs, encourages local production of quality food at fair prices and allows family farms to make a living from the marketplace without government financial assistance. Supply management favours local agriculture, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions caused by the transportation of food. "Supply management, just like collective marketing, perfectly embodies the principles of food sovereignty. Food sovereignty, the right of peoples to feed themselves and decide on the future of their own agricultural policies, is the way of the future," Mr. Lacasse concluded.

Supply-managed commodities play an essential role in Quebec and Canadian agriculture. In Quebec, a little over 8,000 family farms under supply management account for 42.5% of the province's total farm revenues and generate 75,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Since its creation in 2003, the GO5 Coalition for a Fair Farming Model, Supply Management has brought together 30,000 individuals and organizations who believe in a strong and prosperous agriculture in Quebec. The Coalition wants to see supply management maintained at the end of the current round of WTO negotiations. More information can be obtained on the website at www.go5quebec.ca.

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