It was a very inspiring, highly productive and very emotional meeting; we met again after three years of virtuality; we had many ideas and experiences to share; says José Perdomo, President of CropLife Latin America
Today CropLife Latin America has the mandate to consolidate the only voice of the Crop Science Industry in the region, inviting new companies and generating more alliances to jointly respond to the current challenges of the sector. Today, the common challenges and problems of the agricultural inputs sector, particularly of the crop protection products, are an opportunity to join efforts and bring a consolidated voice to the multiple scenarios where proposals and solutions are expected regarding the role of Latin America as a reliable food producer and exporter, highlights José Perdomo, President of CropLife Latin America.
CropLife Latin America is able to position proposals on issues such as food security, adaptation of agriculture to climate change, protection of natural resources, barriers to free trade, adoption of new agro-technologies and the promotion of best agricultural practices. This is one of the conclusions of our annual meeting where we were able to share the most relevant topics on the agenda that we work with the companies and affiliated associations
The annual convention was attended by Emily Rees, President and CEO of CropLife International, who participated in the entire program. Emily highlighted the importance of working as a team to achieve international free trade and to ensure that the sustainability agenda includes and understands the particularities of agricultural production in Latin America.
Virtually all of the region's association directors, nine association presidents, and seven company representatives from the areas of sustainability, public affairs, and regulation were present.
How to stop the illegal trade of inputs, how to deal with the impact and the demands of the Green Pact of the European Union, how to increase the recovery of empty pesticide containers, what are the key factors when we talk about regulation of biological products, were some of the topics addressed.
Sergi Vizoso, Vice President of the Agricultural Solutions Division of BASF Latin America and former President of the Board of Directors of CropLife Latin America presented the challenges and opportunities of the agribusiness sector during the Convention. He highlighted innovation as the key to moving towards greater sustainability, for which he called on national associations to maintain the promotion and defense of science-based regulatory frameworks, to use all efforts to comply with the law to combat illegal trade and comply with intellectual property rights. He finally made a call to redouble the work in the adoption of more and better agricultural practices.
During the convention, the georeferencing project for Collection Centers in Latin America was presented; a project that started a few months ago and already has collection centers in Guatemala, Colombia, some in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. The goal is that by next July we will have 100% of the Collection Centers in the region georeferenced on the CropLife Latin America website and APP to facilitate their location for farmers, packaging dealers, authorities and allied entities.
During the annual meeting, the recognition dinner was held, where associations with anniversaries were distinguished and their commitment to the productivity and agricultural sustainability of their countries was highlighted.
