G/SPS/GEN/2168, G/AG/GEN/229  
TN/AG/GEN/54, G/C/W/838  
 
9 November 2023  
(23-7581) Page: 1/5 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  
Committee on Agriculture  
Committee on Agriculture – Special Session  
Committee for Trade in Goods  Original: English  
 
  
ENHANCING FOOD SECURITY: THE WTO 'S ROLE IN SUPPORTING INNOVATION  
AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE UNITED STATES  
The following communication, dated 9 November  2023, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the United States . 
 
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1.1.  WTO Members recognize the importance of food security to global and national economic 
prosperity, security, and political stability. Challenges to advancin g food security are prevalent 
throughout agri -food systems. The challenges of growing populations, continuing conflicts, and 
growing negative impacts of climate change, among others, cannot be minimized as we strive to 
enhance food security, which will req uire more resilient and sustainable agri -food systems.  
1.2.  The Organization of Economic Cooperative Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO) estimate that average global agricultural productivity must increase at a rate 
triple of that  recorded over the last decade in order to achieve the 2030 Zero Hunger target while 
simultaneously keeping agricultural emissions on track to meet the Paris Agreement targets. To 
achieve these targets, one cannot rely solely on past methods to boost agric ultural productivity. 
Instead, we must continue to find ways to increase agricultural productivity in a sustainable manner 
that will create more resilient agri -food systems to enhance long -term food security and address 
short-term food crises. This global challenge of increasing sustainable agricultural productivity will 
require coordination and cooperation across the international community and will need to include 
leveraging public and private investments to support research and development of science -based 
innovative approaches and technologies, promoting knowledge and experience sharing, encouraging 
capacity building, developing and implementing science -based regulatory regimes, and utilizing the 
multilateral rules -based trading system.  
1.3.  The US submission  of 27 March 2023 stated that the World Trade Organization (WTO) can play 
a critical and unique role in enhancing food security.1 By focusing on using trade rules that 
complement the food security initiatives of other international organizations, the WTO can enhance 
food security by promoting the safe and reliable trade of food, innovation in sustainable agri -food 
systems through Members' adoption of science -based regulatory regimes, and the advancement of 
economic growth and sustainable development goals.   
1.4.  This submission explores the roles of WTO Members and the WTO in trade and trade rules to 
promote sustainable agricultural productivity growth, including through the use of innovative tools 
and technologies, to enhance food security.  
 
1 US Communication "The World Trade Organization 's Role in Enhancing Food Security ". JOB/CTG/25 ; 
JOB/AG/241 ; JOB/MA/160 ; JOB/SPS/28 ; JOB/TBT/501 ; JOB/COMTD/1 ; and JOB/TF/233 . G/SPS/GEN/2168 • G/AG/GEN/229 • TN/AG/GEN/54 • G/C/W/838  
 
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  1  SUSTAINABLE AGRICULT URAL PRODUCTIVITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE  
1.1.  The relationship between sustainable agricultural productivity growth and climate change is 
intricate and warrants careful consideration as WTO Members make efforts to enhance their own 
food security. Researchers have already detected the disruptive impacts of climate change on 
agricultural production and productivity growth.2 Changes in temperature, rainfall patterns, and 
extreme weather events that occur more frequently and with greater severity can reduce crop yields 
or lead to crop failures, which in turn affects the availability and affordability of food. Research has 
also shown that there are substantially more severe impacts on agricultural productivity in warmer 
regions such as Africa, Latin Ame rican, and the Caribbean, compared to other parts of the world. 
Extreme weather can also disrupt agricultural supply chains and impede the ability to get food to 
areas where it is most needed.  
1.2.  Further, certain, unsustainable agricultural practices have ad verse impacts on the environment 
and worsen the effects of climate change, such as input intensification, land use expansion, misuse 
of pesticides, over -tilling of soil, and use of inefficient animal and plant production practices. 
Research suggests that k eeping the current agricultural practices and levels of agricultural 
productivity constant through 2050 would require clearing most of the world's remaining forests and 
releasing enough greenhouse gas emissions to exceed the 1.5  °C and 2.0  °C warming targe ts of the 
Paris Agreement – even if emissions from all other human activities were eliminated.3 If global 
temperatures were to exceed these targets, it is projected there could be an additional 530 -550 
million undernourished people.4 Improved efficiency of inputs and natural resource use has been 
increasingly emphasized as the single most effective solution to simultaneously achieving production 
and environmental goals.5 The WTO and its Members must use multilateral trade rules to promote 
smarter, innova tive, and more productive and efficient agri -food systems that are sustainable and 
resilient in order to address food security while simultaneously tackling the challenges of climate 
change.  
2  SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE GROWTH IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY  
2.1.  Enhanc ing food security is a priority for all WTO Members. To this end, some policymakers may 
be inclined to take actions that appear to protect farmers' livelihoods through guaranteeing prices 
for their products and maintaining domestic capacity to produce more  food. However, increasing 
production volumes in unsustainable ways only contributes to near -term food security while 
exacerbating the difficulties of addressing food security going forward. Historically, production 
growth has relied heavily on increasing inputs into production rather than increasing productivity 
through approaches like precision agriculture or the use of improved seed varieties.6 As a result, 
agriculture's impact on climate change and degradation of the environment has grown as more land 
and resources have been directed to increasing production.  
2.2.  Policymakers should therefore shift their food security focus to prioritize supporting farmers' 
incomes and domestic production capacity through incentivizing growth in agricultural productivity. 
Such growth would increase output (e.g., food) per a given quantity of inputs (e.g., land, water, 
labor, capital, chemicals, fertilizers, and gas/electricity) – or reduce inputs per a given level of 
output. By boosting productivity growth, the agricultural sector can conserve and optimize resources, 
mitigate and adapt to climate change, and ensure long -term food security. The OECD has noted that 
productivity growth can play a major role in the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.7 
Further, increa sed productivity can lead to increased competitiveness for farmers – a one percent 
 
2 Ortiz-Bobea, A., T. Ault, C. Carrillo, R. Chambers, and D. Lobell. 2021. "Anthropogenic Climate Change 
Has Slowed Global Agricultural Productivity Growth". Nature Climate Change 1 1: 306 –12. 
3 World Resources Institute, 2019, Creating a Sustainable Food Future. 
https://www.wri.org/research/creating -sustainable -food-future . 
4 Hasegawa, T., et al. , 2016.  
5 Searc hinger et al. , 2019; Agnew, J. & Hendery, S.  (2023). 2023 Globa l Agricultural Productivity 
Report: Every Farmer, Every Tool. Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.  
6 USDA ERS, International Agricultural Productivity, https://www.ers.usda.gov/data -
products/international -agricultural -productivity/summary -findings/ . 
7 OECD, 2021. Making Better Policies for Food Systems. https://www.oecd -ilibrary.org/agriculture -and-
food/making -better -policies -for-food-systems_ddfba4de -en. G/SPS/GEN/2168 • G/AG/GEN/229 • TN/AG/GEN/54 • G/C/W/838  
 
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  increase in productivity growth is equivalent to a one percent decrease in the cost of producing, 
storing, and selling a food product.8 
2.3.  However, growth in agricultural prod uctivity alone is insufficient to meet food security and 
climate change goals. For example, efforts must also be focused on improving productivity of, and 
better management of, natural resources and ecosystem services, including those resources brought 
into production. Such an approach can contribute to meeting food security needs of current and 
future generations while enhancing the wellbeing of farmers, agricultural workers, consumers, and 
the environment, and building more sustainable, resilient, and inc lusive food systems.  
3  THE ROLE OF INNOVATION IN SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE GROWTH IN AGRICULTURAL 
PRODUCTIVITY AND FOOD SECURITY  
3.1.  Innovation, funded through both public and private investments in research, is crucial for 
accelerating sustainable growth in agricu ltural production. Innovations, such as heat and drought 
tolerant seeds, practices to improve soil health and irrigation, inputs to improve feed conversion 
efficiency for animals, and increasing access to climate information and early warning systems, have  
already proven their utility in increasing food availability and reducing vulnerability to a changing 
climate.9 However, persistent challenges —including those that may intensify due to climate change, 
such as limited arable land, water scarcity, soil deg radation, and changes in the distribution and 
frequency of pest outbreaks —coupled with increasing food demand mean that even more innovative 
tools and technologies are needed. Innovations in cutting -edge technological advancements in soil, 
seed, pest, anim al health, and farm management, along with innovative managerial and operational 
approaches to farming, including those utilizing digital technologies, are critical and require 
significant capital and investments.  
3.2.  In addition, collaborative initiatives bet ween governments, the private sector, research 
institutions, and civil society organizations can drive innovation by fostering knowledge exchange, 
providing financial support for research and development, and creating an enabling environment for 
entreprene urship and investment in the agricultural sector. Access to and adoption of proven, 
appropriate, productivity -enhancing tools, including new innovative technologies and approaches, 
will allow farmers to improve their productivity and resilience, while addr essing challenges that 
undermine their ability to contribute to enhanced food security.  
3.3.  While accelerating sustainable agricultural productivity growth is necessary to enhance food 
security by increasing the availability of food in the face of climate chan ge, it is also necessary for 
reducing agriculture's environmental footprint and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 
agriculture, which contribute to climate change. Many adaptation -focused climate -smart agriculture 
investments, including nature -based so lutions, have climate change mitigation co -benefits. For 
example, soil health investments can increase yields and reduce mineral fertilizer requirements; new 
seed varieties can increase productivity and resilience to drought; improved feed can increase mil k 
yields while reducing methane emissions in livestock; and improved food storage can reduce food 
loss and waste.10 
3.4.  Innovative technologies and approaches also contribute to enhancing food security through 
practices that extend beyond the field or farm gate. Efficient transportation, storage, cold chain 
management, and advanced packaging techniques, along with the remov al of other barriers to 
movement of food that increase costs and delay shipments, reduce post -harvest losses and extend 
the shelf life of perishable goods, ensuring a larger portion of farmers' harvests reach consumers 
with less spoilage thereby increasing  food availability and affordability. There is also a growing 
commercial and consumer interest in new food systems innovations to meet the challenges of 
supporting an increasing global population and to boost sustainable food production. Consequently, 
 
8 Agnew, J. & Hendery, S.  (2023). 2023 Global Agricultural Productivity Report: Every Farmer, Every 
Tool. Virginia Tech College of Agricultu re and Life Sciences.  
9 For example, improved crop varieties raised productivity of adopting areas in sub -Saharan Africa by an 
average of 47% between 1980 and 2010. ( Walker, T. S., and Alwang, J.  2015) Additionally, seeds that are 
drought - and heat -resistant can increase yields by up to 25% under climate patterns expected in Africa by 
2050 under a "business -as-usual" scenario. ( Cacho et. al. , 2020).  
10 IFPRI , 2022. Global Food Policy Report: Climate Change & Food Systems. 
https://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/135893 /filename/136099.pdf . G/SPS/GEN/2168 • G/AG/GEN/229 • TN/AG/GEN/54 • G/C/W/838  
 
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  WTO Members can work together to share information on new innovations and technologies to 
continue regulating the safety of food and agricultural products.  
4  THE WTO'S ROLE IN SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND INNOVATION IN 
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION  
4.1.  In coordinatio n with other international organizations, WTO -based work can help enhance food 
security by encouraging investment in innovation, promoting adoption of new technologies and 
approaches, strengthening the policy capacity of WTO Members, and facilitating the s afe trade of 
agricultural products, including those produced with more sustainable methods.  
4.2.  Starting with the existing WTO agreements, WTO Members can reinforce their use of the rules -
based multilateral trading system, which supports scientifically -sound regulatory schemes and open 
and predictable markets. Such an enabling environment will attract financial support and greater 
participation from the private sector in efforts to boost productivity while maintaining trade volumes 
and market opportunities. Wh en entrepreneurs see global market potential and certainty for new 
approaches or technologies for producing food, they will be more likely to make investments.  
4.3.  An enabling regulatory environment underpinned by a rules -based trading system allows 
farmers o r other agricultural -related businesses to more easily see the opportunity to sell food 
produced with these new investments and in turn will encourage their adoption. However, if WTO 
Members make regulatory or administrative decisions that are unjustified,  are inflexible, or are 
perceived as unpredictable, then the necessary investments will not be made in new innovations to 
improve global food security and farmers will be unwilling to adopt them.  
4.4.  It is critical to note that WTO Members should not prescrib e the ways in which other Members 
should meet their own sustainability and food safety goals. Continuing the sustainable growth of 
agricultural productivity necessary to achieve food security will require context -specific strategies 
tailored to the unique characteristics and challenges of different geographies, crops, farm types, 
markets, and socio -economic conditions. This will enable the implementation of targeted innovations 
that maximize productivity while minimizing negative economic, environmental, an d social impacts. 
When WTO Members take a prescriptive approach, such as requiring the adoption of certain practices 
or technologies, rather than an outcomes -based approach, it can ultimately undermine sustainable 
agricultural productivity and food securit y.  
4.5.   To be clear, it is critical that actions taken by Members are based on science and evidence and 
that Members avoid prescriptive approaches that ultimately could undermine the achievement of 
global sustainability and food security goals. For example, a ssessments must be made to determine 
whether new innovations are providing the desired outcomes, such as whether the use of a 
technology associated with reduced greenhouse gas emissions actually leads to lower emissions. To 
harness the full potential of pr oductivity growth and to advance social, environmental, and economic 
sustainability goals, it may be necessary to conduct holistic assessments of the intended and 
unintended impacts of the innovative agricultural practices and policies. A systematic approa ch that 
manages trade -offs and safeguards social and environmental welfare is crucial to ensure that 
productivity growth aligns with sustainability objectives and supports the long -term well -being of 
both people and the planet.  
4.6.  Even the best innovation is of limited value if farmers are unable to use a new practice or 
technology, and efforts must also be made to encourage the adoption of innovative practices and 
technologies as they are developed. Here again, collaborative initiatives involving diverse 
stakeholders, such as scientists, farmers, policymakers, and industry representatives, can drive 
adoption of new innovations, including through the dissemination of information regarding the 
benefits of and best practices associated with these innovations.  Si nce experiences with new tools 
and technologies may vary among countries, collaborative exchanges among WTO Members will 
foster a greater understanding of these innovations, especially with regard to their safety and the 
ways in which Members use science -based approaches to regulate their use.  
4.7.  By actively promoting and sharing knowledge about these innovations, along with creating and 
utilizing science -based regulatory regimes that ensure predictability for the acceptance of new 
technologies and approaches , WTO Members may facilitate widespread adoption of these 
innovations, thus supporting sustainable advancements in agricultural productivity and global food G/SPS/GEN/2168 • G/AG/GEN/229 • TN/AG/GEN/54 • G/C/W/838  
 
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  security. The WTO itself, as a multilateral deliberative forum, may also be able to facilitate 
connections between WTO Members and relevant work being done in other international fora.  
4.8.  Just as farmers need policies to help them adapt to shocks from market upheaval and variable 
weather, they will also need policies that incentivize and empower them to continue the transition 
to more sustainable production practices. However, well -intentioned policies, whether aimed at 
protecting farmers' livelihoods, enhancing food security, or incentivizing sustainable production 
methods, if not well -constructed, may h ave unintended negative or counterproductive effects while 
delivering limited benefits. Here, the WTO, as a multilateral deliberative forum, can help find ways 
of encouraging policies that support sustainable agricultural practices and strong institutional  
frameworks and research programs that facilitate innovation and adoption of new technologies. At 
the same time, the WTO can discourage those policies that result in over -production, overuse or 
misallocation of resources, market distortions, or other negat ive impacts, environmental or 
otherwise.  
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