by Rebecca Sherratt, Features Editor, Milling
and Grain
On June 10th, 2020, the International Grains Council (IGC) joined the legion of events around the world embracing digital media, hosting their first online edition of the IGC Grains Conference. During the one-day event 14 conference sessions were available to explore, complimented by live Q&A sessions where attendees could engage in discussions with fellow industry members.
The conference opened with a speech by Nathalie Dubé, Minister-Counsellor, High Commission of Canada and Chair of the IGC. During her introduction, Ms Dubé explored the variety of topics that would be covered during the event, paying particular attention to the COVID-19 crisis and its effects on the commodities sector.
“During this difficult time, I would like to stress that trading grains has not been adversely affected by COVID-19. This was reaffirmed by the IGC which forecasts global trade in grains, whole-wheat and rice in 2020/2021 at 550 million tonnes (mt), an increase of 1.6 percent compared to last year” she said. “Many reports predicted food shortages but having comprehensive global marketing information and the sharing of this information among the grains value chain has helped to avert a major food crisis.”
Building a resilient global food system
by Ty Vaughn, Senior Vice-President and Head of Regulatory Science, Bayer Crop Science, USA
In session two of the conference, a variety of speakers discussed the need for resilience in the market and the need for globalisation. Speakers joined the session from the USDA, World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Ukranian Ministry of Economic Development, but one particularly insightful presentation was that of Mr Ty Vaughn from Bayer Crop Science.
Mr Vaughn opened his discussion with reference to experiences that have caused fluctuations in the markets but expressed that we have never before experienced such a long-term complication akin to that of COVID-19. As a result, the implications of the pandemic will be truly unprecedented.
“This pandemic has disrupted many systems that we rely on as a global body, including where we get our food” says Mr Vaughn. “The food chain has always had to deal with regional events such as flooding and drought and, usually, these have certain effects on areas of the supply chain, but it has always been resilient enough that we rebound quickly. COVID-19 appears to have affected every point in the food chain and is definitely testing our resilience today.”
Whilst some places have been subject to shortages due to import complications, Mr Vaughn also discusses the opposite, wherein too much food is produced to limited demand. Livestock have been euthanised, vegetables are rotting in fields with no labourers, whilst one farm in Varysburg, New York was dumping its milk out onto fields in a bid to dispose of it in the simplest way possible.
Read more HERE.
On June 10th, 2020, the International Grains Council (IGC) joined the legion of events around the world embracing digital media, hosting their first online edition of the IGC Grains Conference. During the one-day event 14 conference sessions were available to explore, complimented by live Q&A sessions where attendees could engage in discussions with fellow industry members.
The conference opened with a speech by Nathalie Dubé, Minister-Counsellor, High Commission of Canada and Chair of the IGC. During her introduction, Ms Dubé explored the variety of topics that would be covered during the event, paying particular attention to the COVID-19 crisis and its effects on the commodities sector.
“During this difficult time, I would like to stress that trading grains has not been adversely affected by COVID-19. This was reaffirmed by the IGC which forecasts global trade in grains, whole-wheat and rice in 2020/2021 at 550 million tonnes (mt), an increase of 1.6 percent compared to last year” she said. “Many reports predicted food shortages but having comprehensive global marketing information and the sharing of this information among the grains value chain has helped to avert a major food crisis.”
Building a resilient global food system
by Ty Vaughn, Senior Vice-President and Head of Regulatory Science, Bayer Crop Science, USA
In session two of the conference, a variety of speakers discussed the need for resilience in the market and the need for globalisation. Speakers joined the session from the USDA, World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Ukranian Ministry of Economic Development, but one particularly insightful presentation was that of Mr Ty Vaughn from Bayer Crop Science.
Mr Vaughn opened his discussion with reference to experiences that have caused fluctuations in the markets but expressed that we have never before experienced such a long-term complication akin to that of COVID-19. As a result, the implications of the pandemic will be truly unprecedented.
“This pandemic has disrupted many systems that we rely on as a global body, including where we get our food” says Mr Vaughn. “The food chain has always had to deal with regional events such as flooding and drought and, usually, these have certain effects on areas of the supply chain, but it has always been resilient enough that we rebound quickly. COVID-19 appears to have affected every point in the food chain and is definitely testing our resilience today.”
Whilst some places have been subject to shortages due to import complications, Mr Vaughn also discusses the opposite, wherein too much food is produced to limited demand. Livestock have been euthanised, vegetables are rotting in fields with no labourers, whilst one farm in Varysburg, New York was dumping its milk out onto fields in a bid to dispose of it in the simplest way possible.
Read more HERE.
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
For additional daily news from milling around the world: global-milling.com
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