Providing an environmentally responsible solution to the plastic used in agriculture and training more people in good agricultural practices and responsible use of crop protection products contribute to the fulfillment of seven Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.
In 2022, thanks to the efforts of the National Associations through the CampoLimpioSM program, 81,500 tons of empty containers were recovered in 18 Latin American countries, which represents an increase of 5% compared to 2021. The determining factors for the operation of CampoLimpio in 2022 were the regulations that require a post-consumer program and the commitment of the various members of the agricultural chain to make the plastic recovery process possible.
Photo 1. CampoLimpio Argentina, CAT in Neuquén, Argentina. Photo 2. Agrequima, Guatemala. CAT built with the support of Rainforest Alliance, Walmart Foundation, and the Users Association of the La Blanca Irrigation Unit in San Marcos. Photo 3. CampoLimpio Argentina, CAT in Entre Rios, Argentina.
In Latin America, CampoLimpioSMcontributes directly to the fulfillment of Sustainable Development Goal 12, which seeks to Guarantee sustainable consumption and production patterns. The widespread recovery of this waste, which includes plastic, metal, cardboard, paper, and flexible containers, does not occur by chance: it involves dedicated work to reinforce prevention activities in educational sessions, where we emphasize the importance of washing correctly the containers, perforate them to render them useless and take them to a collection center. Let's remember that CampoLimpioSMalso plays an important role in raising awareness against the illegal trade of pesticide products, therefore, rendering them useless and returning them are key steps for success. It was also necessary to expand the infrastructure with the construction of 15 new collection centers in several countries in the region, and the cooperative construction of new balanced regulations that establish clear rules for all participants, financial self-sustainability and above all, an integrated model.
78% of the rigid plastic recovered was recycled and transformed into new useful products such as plastic lumber, drainage pipes and fence posts, giving a new life to this material. The remainder was sent to furnaces for energy recovery and co-processing. Other final destinations such as container-resin and container-diesel pyrolysis were explored in 2022.
CuidAgroSM promotes the protection of health, the environment and agricultural productivity
In 2022, the CuidAgroSM program trained 264,500 people in the region, contributing to several of the Sustainable Development Goals related to human health (SDG 3) and the protection of biodiversity (SDG 15).
With a hybrid model, CuidAgro prioritized face-to-face educational activities, although some virtual sessions are held as specialized webinars. One of the emerging challenges to advance to quality training is the access and management of technologies by farmers. Several countries in the region are facing problems with internet coverage and the boom in digital agriculture applications.
During 2022, 7,420 certificates were delivered through the virtual course platform on the web and the APP. The preferred courses were CampoLimpio, Pollinators and Biotechnology. At the end of the year we launched a new course to combat the illegal trade in pesticides based largely on the OECD Guidelines to curb this crime.
The protection of pollinators and beneficial insects materialized with training projects in Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay, where the importance of cooperation between beekeepers and farmers was prioritized; and in the latter country a pilot project was started to promote the planting of living fences as a refuge for pollinators. In Chile, progress was made in a second stage of the augmented reality APP with beneficial insects.
Photos 4 and 5. Workshops of the drawing contest organized by CampoLimpio Uruguay
Another component of the educational offer presented by the network of CropLife Latin America associations is the environmental content aimed at rural schools and colleges. Sensitizing children and teachers is essential to create awareness of environmental protection. With this purpose, Inpev in Brazil, Agrequima in Guatemala, CampoLimpio Uruguay and Proccyt in Mexico reached more than 300,000 people in this educational community.
CropLife Latin America and the network of Associations maintain a proactive dialogue with regulatory authorities, farmers, academia and other sectors to promote and defend regulations based on scientific evidence that allow access to agricultural technologies. Essential topics to advance towards agricultural sustainability.
IN THE SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS TO THE IMPACT ON AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS BY POLICIES OF THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL
CropLife Latin America maintained the global leadership in raising the voice of the region on the negative impact for agricultural exports due to the loss of the Maximum Residue Limits of key molecules for agricultural production.
Together with the National Associations, we maintain dialogue with the accredited diplomatic missions of the World Trade Organization, the authorities and the agricultural sectors. The most active countries were Guatemala, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador and Colombia.
2 UPHOLD DUE PROCESS AND SCIENCE-BASED ARGUMENTATION
UPHOLD DUE PROCESS AND SCIENCE-BASED ARGUMENTATION
These have been the axes of joint work between authorities from different countries such as Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and Chile due to initiatives that tried to prohibit or restrict products invoking the Precautionary Principle without considering the risk assessment.
CropLife Latin America shares the vision of the Industry at the meetings of the Latin America and the Caribbean Group, GRULAC, and the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean, CCLAC. These groups address issues related to regional conventions such as Rotterdam or CODEX.
In the last two years, a series of judicial actions of constitutional rank have been detected, such as the tutelage action or the group action, which seek the protection of rights to health or the environment due to the alleged improper use of certain chemical pesticides of agricultural use. The situation in Colombia is particularly worrying, where the Constitutional Court opened the possibility of prohibiting the use of crop protection products, based on protection actions when there are other judicial or administrative means to achieve this task.
CropLife Latin America together with the General Secretariat of the Andean Community of Nations CAN, the national authorities of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia have held various workshops to achieve the proper implementation of Andean Decision 804 and Technical Manual 2075, especially regarding the adoption of GHS or globally harmonized labeling.
CropLife Latin America, Procultivos and CultiVida, with the technical support of the Waterborne firm, concluded the Environmental Risk Assessment – Second Phase project, through which tools were developed for the stepwise evaluation of the environmental exposure of pesticides in water in key crops from Colombia and Peru.
8 ECUADOR ADOPTS RE-ENTRY INTERVALS BASED ON EPA REGULATIONS
ECUADOR ADOPTS RE-ENTRY INTERVALS BASED ON EPA REGULATIONS
After 4 years of intense work and dialogue with the regulatory authorities of Ecuador, AgroCalidad issued resolution 0018 of 2022 through which the methodology is adopted to determine the re-entry interval to the treated area (REI) by risk assessment for chemical agricultural pesticides.
The National Pesticides Technical Committee, a body where Ecuador's regulatory entities are represented, approved the inclusion on the label of the information related to the Mode of Action, bearing in mind the current GHS implementation process. This decision is very important because, among other effects, it will allow adequate agronomic management for the use of chemical pesticides for agricultural use and avoid resistance to pests and/or diseases in crops.
PROGRESSING WITH THE HARMONIZED LABELING OF AGROCHEMICALS IN CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN IS A CHALLENGE FOR 2023
Maintaining the dialogue with the authorities to achieve harmonization of the labels above national interpretations and accelerating the design approval process continue to be the main challenges for 2023. This labeling standard was approved within the framework of the Central America Customs Union, in 2021. USDA and IICA are now supporting the governments to try to make the harmonization effective.
The new regulations for the registration of pesticides were analyzed and discussed in 2022, and entered into force in February 2023. The new regulation included the registration by homologation that will facilitate the arrival on the market of products available in other OECD countries.
In Panama, the authorities' proposal to prohibit products classified as Ia and Ib was contained. The government and industry are in talks to define risk mitigation mechanisms.
Modernizing regulatory systems, preventing over-regulation and remembering that the industry's license to operate goes beyond the registration of a product, were some of the recommendations made by José Perdomo, CropLife Latin America President at the conference on regulatory trends of the sector in Latin America, at the AgriBusiness Global event held on August 3 in Panama.
Previous
Next
images/2023/foto2-evento.jpeg
José Perdomo, CropLife Latin America President participated in the Dialogue between IICA and the Private Sector in which the impact on food production and the availability of inputs due to the conflict in Ukraine and Russia was analyzed. 05/11/2022
Previous
Next
images/2023/foto3-evento.jpeg
At the invitation of the US Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO, Javier Fernández, CropLife Latin America Advisor for regulatory affairs participated in this workshop held in Paraguay in which the critical situation of the illegal trade in pesticides was exposed. Present were authorities from Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay. 08/3/2022
Previous
Next
images/2023/foto4-evento.jpeg
Juan Cruz Jaime, CropLife Latin America Director for the Southern Cone participated in the panel on Technological Innovations, Challenges and Opportunities for a Sustainable Agribusiness, organized by the Chamber of Pesticides and Fertilizers, CAFYF, to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Paraguay, 09/20/2022
Previous
Next
images/2023/foto5-evento.jpeg
A year of transition between recovery and sustainability in agriculture was the central theme of the presentation by José Perdomo, president of CropLife Latin America in the virtual conference cycle organized by CultiVida, Peru. 26/02/2022
Previous
Next
images/image/foto1-eventos-crop-222.jpg
José Perdomo, President and Richard Franklin, Executive Director for the Andean Region of CropLife Latin America participated in the round table "Impact of maximum residue limits on molecules necessary to combat agricultural diseases", at the Congress of the Banana Exporters Association, AEBE, held in Ecuador. 26/10/2022
Previous
Next
images/image/foto1-eventos-crop-222.jpg
Mauricio Rodríguez PhD, Director of Scientific Affairs of CropLife Latin America participated in a conference at the First Open Parliament on Pesticides and Fertilizers organized by the Mexican Senate, in which we invited decision makers to learn about the importance of innovation to advance productivity and agri-food sustainability. 26/10/2022
Previous
Next
images/image/foto1-eventos-crop-222.jpg
Alejandro Hernández, Director of Biotechnology for Central America and the Caribbean presented the webinar Precision Biotechnology for a more sustainable agriculture, organized by Cultivida, Peru. 26/10/2022
Previous
Next
images/image/foto1-eventos-crop-222.jpg
Gabriela Briceño, CropLife Latin America Stewardship Manager presented the webinar CampoLimpio, a success story in Latin America, organized by BASF 24/10/2022
Previous
Next
images/image/foto1-eventos-crop-222.jpg
Alejandro Hernández, Director of Biotechnology for Central America and the Caribbean, presented the conference: A Crisp Future, an introduction to the fascinating world of precision breeding at the Acosemillas Congress in Colombia. 11/04/2022
04/11/2022
Previous
Next
images/image/foto1-eventos-crop-222.jpg
With more than 117 participants, the course on the Illegal Agricultural Inputs Market of the University of Sao Paulo was held in collaboration with CropLife Latin America and CropLife Brazil. 09/11/2022
