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Biotech Working Group Addresses Global Challenges in St. Louis

Sep 12, 2013

ASA farmer-leaders and representatives from industry came together in St. Louis this week to address the challenges presented by inconsistent regulatory frameworks within different markets for U.S. soy around the world as part of a meeting of ASA’s Biotech Working Group.

Leading off the meeting was a presentation on efforts to establish a global low level presence (LLP) policy for biotechnology, led by Lisa Zannoni of the Global Alliance for Ag Biotech Trade (GAABT). Following a discussion of the regulatory challenges here in the United States, ASA President Danny Murphy and First Vice President Ray Gaesser updated the BWG on recent missions to China and to Paraguay to address similar challenges in those countries. Consultants David Green and Benno van der Laan examined the range of issues affecting American soy in the EU, and ASA Treasurer Richard Wilkins reviewed his mission to Romania, as well as his work on ASA’s biotech priorities in the larger negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). ASA CEO Steve Censky rounded up the meeting with a discussion of the current status of the soy value chain’s Memorandum of Understanding on (MOU) on Biotech Communication.