MANKATO, Minn. — Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) Director Gene Stoel has never been one to shy away from a conversation about agriculture, even if that conversation takes him halfway across the world. In recent years, he’s represented soybean farmers on visits to Japan, Morocco and even Uzbekistan twice, but most recently he found himself along the Caspian Sea in Baku, Azerbaijan., on behalf of the United Soybean Board (USB) and U.S. Soybean Export Council on conversations about climate change in agriculture during COP29.
COP29 is the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which provides an opportunity for government, business and civil leaders from across the world to come together to discuss climate change issues and how to tackle them. Stoel sat on a panel and took part in a roundtable discussion about agriculture’s role in climate change and what U.S. farmers are doing in response.
“My message to them was that as farmers, we want the land to be protected to ensure the next generation and the generation after that has the ability to make a living off of the land like we do,” said Stoel. “To do that we have to do things right and we need to put carbon back in the soil. Showing them that was important, and it was a message that I feel was well received.”
Stoel sat on a panel for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), which is an agency for agriculture in its member nations that supports their efforts to achieve agricultural development and rural well-being. He notes that IICA provided a friendly voice for agriculture in the western hemisphere, as the rest of world doesn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye.
“There’s a lot of passionate people in what they believe and what they think we can do in regards to climate change, but unfortunately I feel some of them may be a little bit misguided,” said Stoel.
As part of the experience, Stoel was able to meet with farmers and agricultural leaders from all around the world, including Hon. Jose Abelardo Mai, the minister of agriculture from Belize. Stoel said he was able to learn some different perspectives on farming in other countries.
“The one thing we forget about here in the United States is that not everyone has 1,000 acre or even 300-acre farms. There’s a lot of farms across the world that consist of only an acre or two, but they play an important role for employment in their country,” he said. “If you try to modernize them more similarly to our standards, you’re taking away jobs.”
Stoel tag-teamed the conference with Arkansas farmer Brad Doyle, who is a director and past president of the American Soybean Association. Stoel said that while agriculture is just a small aspect of the nearly two-week climate change conference, it’s sure to take center-stage at COP30.
“At the first few meetings, farmers were ignored, but I think we’re getting our voice now,” he said. “Next year’s conference, COP30, will take place in Brazil and I expect that to have a huge focus on agriculture.”
–MSR&PC
