Posted on June, 16, 2023 at 08:28 am
The International Grains Council (IGC) met here earlier this week and Eszter Somogyi, USA Rice director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, was a featured speaker on a panel reporting on global medium grain rice production.
“This was a great opportunity to share information on the expected crop situation for the 2023/24 marketing year for both California and southern medium grain rice,” said Somogyi. “I also talked about the U.S. rice industry’s impressive conservation record that rivals similar sustainability reports from Italy and the EU.”
Established in 1949, the IGC is an intergovernmental organization with the goal of furthering international cooperation in trade by promoting expansion, openness, and fairness to encourage market stability and enhance world food security. Currently, IGC membership comprises 57 countries including the United States.
A reorientation of the conference in recent years led to the broadening of its target audience by involving companies across myriad related sectors, spanning production, trade, shipping, and logistics, as well banking and finance.
This year’s conference was held over two full days, and several U.S. officials including Daniel Whitley, the administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture´s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), were on the agenda along with various U.S. cooperator groups.
The first day was devoted to presentations and discussions on the challenges, risks, and opportunities in global trade. Day two of the event comprised a number of commodity-specific workshops, covering topical issues affecting markets for grains, rice, oilseeds, pulses, and related sectors.
As climate change and its impact on agricultural production and food security is high on the agenda of many stakeholders in the ag sector, many sessions at the conference centered around how organizations can work together to enhance food security in the current fragile market environment.
“As rice is one of the most important staple foods in the world, with more than 50 percent of the world population depending on rice for nearly 80 percent of its food requirements, it is important to be part of these conversations to further develop sustainable rice production, less water usage, and improve food security world-wide,” Somogyi concluded.
Source: AgFax