Wilkinson is world president

Jack Wilkinson wants to flex some muscle around the world.

The president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture was recently elected president of the 89-member body of the International Federation of Agriculture Producers at its annual meeting in Cairo.

"My view is that the International federation is in a good position to do a lot of things right now," Wilkinson told Farmers Forum when he returned from Egypt.

The agenda is the same as any agenda at an annual Ontario agriculture meeting, he said. "Food safety, the environment and getting income back to the producers."

While developing nations are on a different income scale, producers around the world feel they should be getting more money for what they produce, he said.

Here are some of Wilkinson’s plans:

- To develop international protocols, especially on world-wide issues like bio-diversity and labeling of products.

- To eliminate export subsidies

- To present Canadian interests without appearing to act only for Canadian interests.

He also wants farmers to reach agreements on issues before the next World Trade Organization talks are completed by as late as 2005. Previous WTO talks have put in place agreements that farmers and farm groups have had to react to. Wilkinson wants farm-driven ideas "in the minds of negotiators first" before the negotiations start.

The organization will continue to grow, he said. This will be seen as the only place in town to talk about business in agriculture on a global scale, he said. As the organization grows it will also grow in clout. He suggests the International Federation of Agriculture Producers can have enormous strength as 75 per cent of the world’s population are farmers.

We are moving into "more influential times," he said, adding that the organization can do as much as it wants to do. "It all depends on the people. They can smoke cigars and put their feet up or they can decide to flex its muscle. At Cairo, there was clearly the intention to flex muscle."

But does the organization have any muscle against the United States?