Canadian farmers side with Mexico in GMO corn dispute with US

Canada's largest farm organization is sending petitions to the official international trade agency calling on it to stop supporting US positions that violate Mexico's right to food sovereignty.

The opinion and position of the National Farmers Union of Canada (NFU) regarding the US-Mexico dispute over GMO corn was presented by the organization's president Jenn Pfenning in an article published on the Manitoba Co-operator.ca portal: “September 29 was Mexico’s national day dedicated to an important place traditional corn in Mexican society and history. This year, her future faces a new threat.

Corn as we know it today was developed by indigenous peoples from an ancient plant called teocinte over thousands of years, making Mexico the biological and cultural center of origin for the crop. Corn is a staple of Mexican cuisine, and corn cultivation provides a livelihood for Mexican farmers. The importance of corn to Mexico cannot be overstated, and many indeed consider it sacred.

Mexico has announced a ban on the import of genetically modified white corn for human consumption because the GMO could otherwise replace traditional corn in rural areas and in the human diet.

However, under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Trade Agreement, U.S. policymakers have launched a formal dispute to overturn the ban. Canada has officially joined the dispute as a third party, supporting the United States, although Canada does not sell corn to Mexico.

We at the National Farmers Union of Canada support Mexico's decision because we believe its people have the right to determine their own food sovereignty.

In honor of National Corn Day, we recorded a video statement of solidarity that was shown in Mexico on September 29th. As President of our organization, I had the honor of standing with NFU members and Iroquois Seed Guardian Celeste Smith to deliver the following message: “Our organization is Canada's largest voluntary, direct membership farmer organization. We represent family farmers and farmworkers from across the country in all sectors of agriculture.

We are committed to building a food system in which financially viable family and cooperative farms produce high-quality, healthy and safe food using practices that protect our soil, water, biodiversity and other natural resources. We promote social and economic justice for food producers and all people living in Canada and around the world.

Our Farmers Union has always been concerned about the imbalance of power between large agribusiness corporations and our farmers and their communities. We want to build a food system where people have a democratic say in what we produce, how we produce it and what we eat.

It is for these reasons and based on these principles that we wrote twice this summer to the head of Canada's Department of Foreign Trade, Mary Ng, urging her not to involve Canada in the US trade dispute with Mexico over Mexico's restrictions on the import of genetically modified white corn for dough and flatbreads.

We called for respect for Mexico's decision, based on the following reasons, which we support and consider just: the protection of food sovereignty, including traditional indigenous farming systems; protection of global biodiversity in general and maize crops in particular, since Mexico is the center of origin of maize; conservation of Mexico's biocultural heritage, including its maize cultivation techniques and culinary uses.

In the petitions, we reminded our Minister: Canada is proud to have signed the UN Convention on Biodiversity in 1992, and that the commitments we made then still stand: we agreed to regulate, manage or control the risks associated with GMOs and the use of GM crops. And we agreed to respect, preserve and support the knowledge, innovation and practices of Indigenous communities that support biodiversity.

We also highlighted the fact that Canada recently passed legislation implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and stated that it would be inconsistent with that declaration for Canada to challenge Mexico's right to protect Indigenous food and agricultural heritage.

We oppose the use of dispute resolution mechanisms in trade agreements to nullify democratic rights and put the interests of multinational corporations above the interests of human communities.

Fair trade is possible, but it must be based on interdependent, environmentally friendly, sustainable agricultural and food systems that are democratically governed by citizens, living and working in every country.

In conclusion, the National Farmers Union of Canada stands with Mexico's determination to protect its rich and beautiful cultural heritage, life-giving biodiversity and the people's right to food sovereignty."

(Source: www.manitobacooperator.ca)