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fact, he stressed that he does not believe that the of its carbon policy compared to those carried
Green Deal will hurt the ability of U.S. exporters out by its international competitors,” the groups
to sell feed ingredients to their European clients. said in identical submissions to the European
Commission. “The EU’s low carbon approach
Most of the impact will likely be on the European
corporations, requiring tighter reporting require- will indeed create differences between European
ments on where they source their soy and corn. and third country production systems if the latter
countries do not make the same efforts.”
“There is a strong commitment in the EU to
ensure that food security remains in place and Fertilizers Europe says it backs “a model
global trade continues as part of the solution,” whereby the actual carbon intensity of imported
he said. “I know there’s anxiety out there on products is subject to costs equal to those borne
the Green Deal impact … but I don’t think this by EU producers.”
will have any immediate, direct implication on If the EU goes in that direction with the tax,
existing trade patterns.” Brazilian soybean, corn and meat exports may
be hit hard. In 2011, Brazilian greenhouse gas
Still, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding
exactly how the European Green Deal will emissions from land conversion and agricul-
impact agricultural exports to the trading bloc. tural production dropped and stabilized over
the next several years, according to the World
“Thus far the Green Deal has put forward some Resources Institute.
targets, however, there has not been agreement
upon the strategy to achieve the goals,” Rinne said. Other growers face sustainability
“We believe the U.S. soy industry continues to standards, too
demonstrate our commitment to sustainability The same climate concerns that are driving the
through the U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance concerns of soybean growers in Brazil and U.S.
Protocol. We look forward to engaging with the also are spurring efforts in many other sectors,
EU in addressing the challenges facing the world including cotton, dairy, beef and pork.
and how agriculture can be a solution.”
European-based food giants such as Danone
Further complicating the trade outlook is the and Nestle are backing the EU’s move to slash
EU’s proposal of a carbon border adjustment tax greenhouse gas emissions at the same time
on imports from countries deemed to have exces- they are increasing pressure on dairy produc-
sive carbon emissions. Under the Green Deal, ers in the United States to shrink their carbon
EU farmers will have to reduce their greenhouse footprint.
gas emissions, so foreign producers that export to
Europe should either bear the same burdens or Executives of Danone and Nestle were
pay a tax to compensate, the theory goes. among 170 business leaders who signed a
statement in September calling on EU heads
The carbon tax is still in the proposal phase and of state to support the Green Deal’s target of
details have not been released.
reducing emissions 55% by 2030. The EU’s
The Belgium-based European Corn Federation goal is to become carbon neutral by 2050.
and the France-based General Association of The U.S. dairy industry announced earlier
Corn Producers both say they want the tax to this year that it would work toward becoming
weigh heavily on competing grain imports. carbon neutral by 2050, and in October, Nestle

“It appears to be a threat if the EU does not take announced that it was committing $10 million
into account the economic and sectoral effects toward reaching the goal. Dairy industry offi-

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