Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Encyclopedia
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) is a non-profit
research and advocacy organization that promotes sustainable
food, farm, and trade systems. IATP has offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota
and Geneva
, Switzerland
, and operates both locally and internationally.
to securing universal access to healthy food. IATP identifies the impact trade agreements
have on farmers, consumers and the environment, while promoting a fair trade
system that supports locally based development, labor
and human rights
, and democratic institutions. IATP develops alternative economic models that integrate environmental sustainability into rural development.
1990: IATP distributes Trading Away Our Future, a video on how General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) affects American agriculture policy, to over 1,000 local organizers, opinion leaders and teachers.
1991: In New York, IATP conducts trainings and strategy coordination for 20 coalition partners in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
1992: United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, more commonly known as the Earth Summit, meets in Rio de Janeiro; IATP co-hosts the Global Forum on the GATT at the summit.
1995: IATP holds a series of events nationwide with surviving founders of Bretton Woods
and United Nations
institutions, resulting in a [book of twenty essays] by the participants.
1996: IATP forms Peace Coffee in partnership with Guatemala’s Nobel Peace Prize
winner Rigoberta Menchu
.
1997: IATP incorporates TransFair USA, the first U.S. fair-trade certification body.
1998: IATP marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
with an event in New York
with Jesse Jackson
, John Sweeney
and others.
2000: With six other groups, IATP launches GE Food Alert to challenge the use of genetically engineered crops in food. IATP launches Trade Information Project in Geneva to serve as an information clearinghouse on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for NGOs around the world.
2001: IATP created the Eat Well Guide, an online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs available from North American farms, stores, restaurants and online merchants.
2005: IATP publishes a critique of the U.S. food aid system for undercutting local food systems in poor countries. The WTO holds its sixth ministerial in Hong Kong. IATP helps to organize the Fair Trade Fair and Symposium near the WTO meeting, to highlight the fair trade system for WTO delegates.
2006: IATP publishes a report, summarized in The New York Times
, on the incidence of arsenic in U.S. poultry products.
2008: John Nichols
of The Nation
designated IATP the "Most Valuable Policy Group" in his Most Valuable Progressives of 2008 list.
The Food and Society Fellows program moves to IATP, bringing together chefs, farmers, nutritionists, activists, public health professionals, fishers, policy experts and academics who work to create sustainable food systems.
2009: IATP released a report, Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup, that examined the presence of mercury
in high fructose corn syrup
.
returned to the United States from a 1986 Geneva meeting and incorporated the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, with the mission of fostering sustainable rural communities. In 1987, IATP began to organize and report on the newly launched round of international trade negotiations being conducted by the GATT, which eventually became the WTO. The rules of agricultural trade set in the GATT and implemented at the WTO have deeply influenced national and local farm policies around the globe over the last two decades.
In the 1990s, IATP expanded beyond its initial focus on international policymaking institutions like the WTO, and regional free trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement
, to include the promotion of positive alternatives to economically, socially and environmentally destructive agricultural and trade practices. For example, with the Center for Agriculture and the Environment in the Netherlands, IATP developed tools to help U.S. farmers increase their income by reducing on-farm fertilizer use.
Jim Harkness became IATP’s new president in 2006, after spending the previous 16 years in China, most recently as the Executive Director for the World Wildlife Fund in China.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
research and advocacy organization that promotes sustainable
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
food, farm, and trade systems. IATP has offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
and Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and operates both locally and internationally.
Areas of work
IATP works to integrate sustainability throughout the food and farm system, from supporting farmers and the environmentNatural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
to securing universal access to healthy food. IATP identifies the impact trade agreements
Trade pact
A trade pact is a wide ranging tax, tariff and trade pact that often includes investment guarantees. The most common trade pacts are of the preferential and free trade types are concluded in order to reduce tariffs, quotas and other trade restrictions on items traded between the signatories.-By...
have on farmers, consumers and the environment, while promoting a fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
system that supports locally based development, labor
Labor rights
Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between workers and their employers, usually obtained under labor and employment law. In general, these rights' debates have to do with negotiating workers' pay, benefits, and safe...
and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, and democratic institutions. IATP develops alternative economic models that integrate environmental sustainability into rural development.
Timeline highlights
1987: IATP launches the Sustainable Agriculture Computer Network with email, access to shared data and research, news wire services, electronic conferencing and bulletin boards.1990: IATP distributes Trading Away Our Future, a video on how General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization . GATT was signed in 1947 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World...
(GATT) affects American agriculture policy, to over 1,000 local organizers, opinion leaders and teachers.
1991: In New York, IATP conducts trainings and strategy coordination for 20 coalition partners in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
1992: United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, more commonly known as the Earth Summit, meets in Rio de Janeiro; IATP co-hosts the Global Forum on the GATT at the summit.
1995: IATP holds a series of events nationwide with surviving founders of Bretton Woods
United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference
The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, commonly known as the Bretton Woods conference, was a gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to regulate the international monetary and financial order after...
and United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
institutions, resulting in a [book of twenty essays] by the participants.
1996: IATP forms Peace Coffee in partnership with Guatemala’s Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
winner Rigoberta Menchu
Rigoberta Menchú
Rigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the K'iche' ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War , and to promoting indigenous rights in the country...
.
1997: IATP incorporates TransFair USA, the first U.S. fair-trade certification body.
1998: IATP marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
with an event in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
, John Sweeney
John Sweeney
John Sweeney may refer to:*John E. Sweeney , U.S. Representative from New York*John Roland Sweeney , Canadian, politician and educator*John Sweeney , BBC journalist*John James Sweeney, Pennsylvania politician...
and others.
2000: With six other groups, IATP launches GE Food Alert to challenge the use of genetically engineered crops in food. IATP launches Trade Information Project in Geneva to serve as an information clearinghouse on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for NGOs around the world.
2001: IATP created the Eat Well Guide, an online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs available from North American farms, stores, restaurants and online merchants.
2005: IATP publishes a critique of the U.S. food aid system for undercutting local food systems in poor countries. The WTO holds its sixth ministerial in Hong Kong. IATP helps to organize the Fair Trade Fair and Symposium near the WTO meeting, to highlight the fair trade system for WTO delegates.
2006: IATP publishes a report, summarized in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, on the incidence of arsenic in U.S. poultry products.
2008: John Nichols
John Nichols
John Nichols may refer to:* John Nichols , author of The Milagro Beanfield War* John Nichols , British diplomat and Ambassador to Switzerland* John Nichols , English cricketer...
of The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
designated IATP the "Most Valuable Policy Group" in his Most Valuable Progressives of 2008 list.
The Food and Society Fellows program moves to IATP, bringing together chefs, farmers, nutritionists, activists, public health professionals, fishers, policy experts and academics who work to create sustainable food systems.
2009: IATP released a report, Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup, that examined the presence of mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
in high fructose corn syrup
High fructose corn syrup
High-fructose corn syrup — also called glucose-fructose syrup in the UK, glucose/fructose in Canada, and high-fructose maize syrup in other countries — comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce...
.
History
Minnesota Secretary of State Mark RitchieMark Ritchie
Donald Mark Ritchie was elected the 21st Minnesota Secretary of State on November 7, 2006. He was re-elected in 2010. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He grew up in Iowa, and graduated from Iowa State University in 1971...
returned to the United States from a 1986 Geneva meeting and incorporated the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, with the mission of fostering sustainable rural communities. In 1987, IATP began to organize and report on the newly launched round of international trade negotiations being conducted by the GATT, which eventually became the WTO. The rules of agricultural trade set in the GATT and implemented at the WTO have deeply influenced national and local farm policies around the globe over the last two decades.
In the 1990s, IATP expanded beyond its initial focus on international policymaking institutions like the WTO, and regional free trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
, to include the promotion of positive alternatives to economically, socially and environmentally destructive agricultural and trade practices. For example, with the Center for Agriculture and the Environment in the Netherlands, IATP developed tools to help U.S. farmers increase their income by reducing on-farm fertilizer use.
Jim Harkness became IATP’s new president in 2006, after spending the previous 16 years in China, most recently as the Executive Director for the World Wildlife Fund in China.
Board of directors
- Lucia Watson, Chef, restaurateur and local food advocate
- Rod Leonard, Executive Director, Community Nutrition Institute, U.S.
- Harriet Barlow, Executive Director, Blue Mountain Center, U.S.
- Becky Glass, Director of External Relations/Development Specialist, Center on Wisconsin StrategyCenter on Wisconsin StrategyThe Center on Wisconsin Strategy is a progressive policy institute housed on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It was founded in 1991 by UW Professor Joel Rogers as a center organized around the concept of "high road" economic development: a path to decent jobs, stronger...
(COWS), U.S. - Dr. Cândido Grzybowski, Executive Director, Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas (IBASE), Brazil
- Steven Shrybman, Law Partner, Sack Goldblatt Mitchell, Canada
- Victor Suarez Carrera, Founder, Executive Director, National Association of Rural Commercialization Enterprises, Mexico
- Jim Harkness, President, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (ex officio)
- Ma. Estrella Penunia, Secretary General, Asian Farmers' Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), Philippines
- Dr. Arie van den Brand, President, Biologica, The Netherlands