Rome, Italy, April 30, 2024 – The World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) are pleased to announce a new strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the voice of farmers in global policy processes and multilateral fora and promoting the critical role of livestock, animal-sourced foods and rules-based international trade in delivering sustainable food systems.

Key Objectives of the Partnership:

  • Support a greater representation of farmers and advance joint priorities in areas of common interest in relevant global policy processes and multilateral fora.
  • Promote the fundamental role of trade, alongside domestic production, to achieve stronger food security and better nutrition at all levels, including through the development and adoption of science-based international standards and guidelines that work for farmers and support the international trade of agricultural products.
  • Elevate focus on food and nutrition security and ensure the centrality of farmers’ needs and interests in the food systems conversation, advocating for greater recognition of the livestock sector and the major contributions of animal-sourced foods and animal-based products to the social, economic and environmental sustainability of our food systems as well as the protection of dairy and meat terms.

“In recent years, WFO has had the opportunity to work with USDEC in several multilateral contexts, and we witnessed their commitment to a farmer-driven, science-based, and outcome-oriented approach to tackling global challenges that resonates with our values and commitments towards farmers,” said Dr Andrea Porro, Secretary General of the World Farmers’ Organization. “The formalization of our partnership provides a framework to further our cooperation and highlights our shared goal of contributing to the transition towards resilient, sustainable, and inclusive food systems, with the experiences and needs of farmers at their core.”

Ms Krysta Harden, President and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, added, “With the world facing the simultaneous crises of increasing nutrition insecurity and climate change, now is the time for a partnership like the one USDEC signed today. This collaboration with WFO will bring our organizations together to support effective global policy frameworks informed by farmers.”

MEDIA CONTACT

For further information, please contact:
WFO, Marija Dumic, marija.dumic@wfo-oma.org
USDEC, Jerry Brown, jbrown@usdec.org

About the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO):

The World Farmers’ Organisation is a member-based international association of national farmers’ organizations and agricultural cooperatives from all regions and sectors. It represents and gives voice to the diverse community of farmers worldwide, regardless of their farm size, gender, and age. WFO’s mission is to inform and influence international decision-making on agriculture with farmer-driven and solution-oriented policies, ensuring the most pressing challenges farmers worldwide face are addressed, starting from their needs and leveraging their expectations. www.wfo-oma.org

About the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC):

The U.S. Dairy Export Council is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Its mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and assist the U.S. industry in increasing its global dairy ingredient sales and exports of U.S. dairy products. USDEC accomplishes this through programs in market development that build global demand for U.S. dairy products, resolve market access barriers and advance industry trade policy goals. USDEC is supported by staff across the United States and overseas in Mexico, South America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The U.S. Dairy Export Council prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, disability, national origin, race, colour, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, marital status, military status, and arrest or conviction record. www.usdec.org