TTIP TALKS: what's cooking?

TTIP talks: What’s cooking?

- Perspectives on Food & Farming

Proceedings of the Conference

TTIP: Socioeconomic Impact on Food and Farming

Jim Higginston

(Minister Counselor for Foreign Ag-

riculture Service US Mission to the EU)

gave several

statistics showing that the US farming sector is not

corporate owned, that much of the growth currently is in

smaller farms and that most farms benefit from exports.

Simply saying trade is bad is not a solution to obesity. We

have to educate children and the public.

This is not just about organic, not just about locally

produced food, there is a part of the farming sector that

relies on exports and through trade incomes have gone

up.

The arguments heard today are the same arguments that

were heard 20 years ago when discussing the Sanitary and

Phyto-sanitary chapters in WTO agreement, but in reality

food safety systems have improved at a global level. 20

years of NAFTA has brought increase in trade both from

Mexico and Canada and at the same time better food

safety.

“It comes down to faith -

either you believe in trade

or you don’t

, either you be-

lieve in what your government

says or you don’t.”

Jim Higginston,

US Mission to the EU

In conclusion,

Jim Higginston

stressed that

it comes down to faith - either you believe

in trade or you don’t, either you believe

in what your government says or you

don’t. There has been discussion about the

precautionary principle; the US also uses

the precautionary principle.

TTIP is not

going to be a one-way street

and that is

how an agreement is done.