Description
Program Description, Objectives, and Priorities Individual firms, industries, and national regulatory bodies take different approaches towards the same goals of sustainability and circularity for the production and trade in food and agricultural products. Emerging sustainability regulations require understanding and adaptation by agribusiness, in order to maintain agricultural trade flows. This initiative will support the design, plan, and implementation of workshops and seminars to inform stakeholders, regulators, and policymakers on scientific and technical options to address challenges arising from the implementation of new regulatory mandates on sustainability and circular economy themes such as plastic packaging bans, farm to fork traceability, ecolabeling, recycled food contact material certification, reverse supply chains for reusable packaging, and deforestation-free supply chains. There is no consensus or internationally recognized standard on how life cycle analysis or other forms of scientific analysis should be conducted to assess environmental impacts of food and beverage products. Accordingly, this provides an opportunity for U.S. agricultural research and technology to be better considered in such analyses. USDA anticipates these workshops and seminars would be most impactful on the margins of international trade shows and similar pre-planned gatherings of stakeholders, in which U.S. and EU stakeholders and government officials would exchange perspectives on how sustainability objectives can be met in a balanced manner without restricting trade or imposing unreasonable costs on producers or consumers. These activities could showcase the role of U.S. agricultural research in support of broader global sustainability agendas, including the Collaborative Platform on Agriculture (CPA), which is a new platform for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the EU Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development that enhances communication, exchanges knowledge and information, and promotes mutual understanding and trust, as the United States and the EU work together to address global challenges and achieve common goals on climate change, sustainability, and agri-foods exchanges. Objectives Activities should feature speakers and instructors from relevant U.S., EU/EEA, and European research institutions, government subject matter experts, and private sector representatives working on sustainability and circular economy initiatives in the United States and Europe. Participants should have specialized expertise in topics such as innovation for improved circularity, sustainable feedstocks, food product traceability, circular and sustainable food and beverage packaging and logistics. Participants of these workshops and seminars will: (1) improve understanding of practical, transparent and evidence-based approaches to address the scientific and technical challenges of implementing sustainability and circular economy mandates in international supply chains for food and agricultural products; (2) learn from existing research, best practices, and lessons learned from existing U.S. and European industry practices for enhancing the circularity of food and agricultural supply chains; (3) identify opportunities to provide scientific input on the proposed EU and EU member state sustainability initiatives, to ensure that they can be feasibly implemented and do not unduly disrupt or inhibit agricultural trade; and (4) improve understanding of emerging European and EU Member State circular economy regulations, and how to comply with them. Priorities The workshops in the European Union are intended to broaden the current policy and regulatory discussions surrounding circular economy initiatives to include a wide range of stakeholders working on practical solutions to the scientific and technical challenges of implementing new systems of sustainable packaging, farm to fork traceability, ecolabeling, and other circular economy and sustainability initiatives. These workshops could include side events at fora, such as the October 2022 SIAL Food Trade Show in Paris, meetings of the Agriculture and Environment Committees of the OECD in Paris, and relevant meetings in Brussels. Seminars could also be held in agricultural producing regions in the EU in collaboration with EU Member State academic and agriculture institutions. The recipient will collaborate closely with USDA offices in Washington, Paris, Brussels, and other EU Member States as appropriate. The recipient is expected to identify appropriate venues for activities, developing agendas, recruiting and selecting speakers, managing logistics for speakers (as necessary), and generating printed materials, such as agendas. Place of Performance The recipient will conduct stakeholder dialogue activities in select EU Member States. Activities could also occur within the United States. Events may also be hybrid or virtual if appropriate.