Europe trade deal will hasten change in farming

CHEERS WERE HEARD ACROSS Canada Wednesday morning – at least for the most part – when the European Union parliament voted in favour of a landmark trade deal with Canada, called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

It’s designed to unite the markets of 35 million Canadians with 500 million Europeans. That is huge for Canadian agricultural products. The deal will take a while to kick in. But some people here worry that eventually, European imports will displace similar homegrown products.

They won’t, if Canadian products are better and competitively priced. And there are some products in Europe that are unique to that continent. So why not give Canadians access to them, as long as the trade is fair?

One challenge to farmers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is harmonization. It’s fine that politicians have opened the borders. But regulatory agencies are going to have their say now. And if they don’t like what they see, such as production practices they disap-

prove of, then what?

This raises a particularly thorny question of antibiotic overuse. The World Health Organization calls antibiotic resistance one of the biggest threats globally to global health food security and development today. The use and misuse of antimicrobials in humans and in animals has increased the number and types of resistant organisms.

In agriculture in Europe, antibiotics are no longer used to promote growth in animals. But they are allowed here, and in some cases they’re used too much.

Microorganisms such as bacteria have become better at preventing treatments such as antibiotics from killing them or inhibiting their growth. Antibiotics are incredibly over-prescribed, not just in agriculture but in human medicine too. People often take them unnecessarily, when they have symptoms such as fever that can be caused by a virus and is not controlled with an antibiotic.

In nature, bacteria constantly mutate and change to fight whatever is attacking them. First there’s a few that resist and survive efforts to kill them; they reproduce, and then there are millions, then billions, then trillions. They fight back against antibiotics like they do any other threat.

An action plan has been endorsed by Canada, the United States and member countries of the WHO, to tackle the problem. The action plan’s goal is to ensure, for what the organization says is for “as long as possible,” continuity of successful treatment and prevention of infectious diseases with “effective and safe medicines that are quality-assured, used in a responsible way, and accessible to all who need them.”

Countries have been urged to put the plan into action, adapting it to their national priorities and specific contexts, and mobilizing additional resources for its implementation. Governments committed to have in place, by May of this year (when the next World Health Assembly is held), their own action plan on antimicrobial resistance, aligned with the global plan. Their plans are to cover antimicrobial medicines in animal health and agriculture, as well as for human health.

Canada’s plan is still under development. But there are many signs from government officials, researchers and others about what it could and should contain. AMR is accepted as a huge problem, one of the biggest ever in agriculture, and there’s no doubt an exporting nation like Canada must have harmonized standards with major trading partners.

While the global plan is being designed and debated, researchers suggest producers look at their own farms. This begins with analyzing what you’re using for antimicrobials on your farm, and how much. Then determine why you’re using them, and if management alternatives could perhaps produce similar results. Finally, bring your veterinarian into decisions you make about new directions in disease control.

Change is going to happen. The European trade deal makes it more real than ever.