Practical Approaches to Circularity in US-EU Food and Agricultural Trade

Description

Program Description, Objectives, and PrioritiesIndividual firms, industries, and national regulatory bodies take different approaches towards thesame goals of sustainability and circularity for the production and trade in food and agriculturalproducts. Emerging sustainability regulations require understanding and adaptation byagribusiness, in order to maintain agricultural trade flows.This initiative will support the design, plan, and implementation of workshops and seminars toinform stakeholders, regulators, and policymakers on scientific and technical options to addresschallenges arising from the implementation of new regulatory mandates on sustainability andcircular economy themes such as plastic packaging bans, farm to fork traceability, ecolabeling,recycled food contact material certification, reverse supply chains for reusable packaging, anddeforestation-free supply chains.There is no consensus or internationally recognized standard on how life cycle analysis or otherforms of scientific analysis should be conducted to assess environmental impacts of food andbeverage products. Accordingly, this provides an opportunity for U.S. agricultural research andtechnology to be better considered in such analyses.USDA anticipates these workshops and seminars would be most impactful on the margins ofinternational trade shows and similar pre-planned gatherings of stakeholders, in which U.S. andEU stakeholders and government officials would exchange perspectives on how sustainabilityobjectives can be met in a balanced manner without restricting trade or imposing unreasonablecosts on producers or consumers.These activities could showcase the role of U.S. agricultural research in support of broaderglobal sustainability agendas, including the Collaborative Platform on Agriculture (CPA), whichis a new platform for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the EU Directorate General forAgriculture and Rural Development that enhances communication, exchanges knowledge andinformation, and promotes mutual understanding and trust, as the United States and the EU worktogether to address global challenges and achieve common goals on climate change,sustainability, and agri-foods exchanges.ObjectivesActivities should feature speakers and instructors from relevant U.S., EU/EEA, and Europeanresearch institutions, government subject matter experts, and private sector representativesworking on sustainability and circular economy initiatives in the United States and Europe.Participants should have specialized expertise in topics such as innovation for improvedcircularity, sustainable feedstocks, food product traceability, circular and sustainable food andbeverage packaging and logistics.Participants of these workshops and seminars will:(1) improve understanding of practical, transparent and evidence-based approaches toaddress the scientific and technical challenges of implementing sustainability and circulareconomy mandates in international supply chains for food and agricultural products;(2) learn from existing research, best practices, and lessons learned from existing U.S. andEuropean industry practices for enhancing the circularity of food and agricultural supplychains;(3) identify opportunities to provide scientific input on the proposed EU and EU memberstate sustainability initiatives, to ensure that they can be feasibly implemented and do notunduly disrupt or inhibit agricultural trade; and(4) improve understanding of emerging European and EU Member State circular economyregulations, and how to comply with them.PrioritiesThe workshops in the European Union are intended to broaden the current policy and regulatorydiscussions surrounding circular economy initiatives to include a wide range of stakeholdersworking on practical solutions to the scientific and technical challenges of implementing newsystems of sustainable packaging, farm to fork traceability, ecolabeling, and other circulareconomy and sustainability initiatives.These workshops could include side events at fora, such as the October 2022 SIAL Food TradeShow in Paris, meetings of the Agriculture and Environment Committees of the OECD in Paris,and relevant meetings in Brussels. Seminars could also be held in agricultural producing regionsin the EU in collaboration with EU Member State academic and agriculture institutions.The recipient will collaborate closely with USDA offices in Washington, Paris, Brussels, andother EU Member States as appropriate. The recipient is expected to identify appropriate venuesfor activities, developing agendas, recruiting and selecting speakers, managing logistics forspeakers (as necessary), and generating printed materials, such as agendas.Place of PerformanceThe recipient will conduct stakeholder dialogue activities in select EU Member States. Activitiescould also occur within the United States. Events may also be hybrid or virtual if appropriate.

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