Farmers are being denied access to important new technologies because of restrictive regulations that are not based on science, according to Gregg Doud, the chief agricultural negotiator for the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

Speaking at the 2019 ASA conference in Kilkenny, Doud said the use of new technologies on farms are increasingly undermined by regulatory barriers.

New regulations

“A lot of new regulations for farm technologies are not based on science," he said.

"And many of these regulations are driven by activists with a business model of scaring consumers about the food they eat.

We need to be better at articulating new technologies

“Governments must ensure that all regulations are based on sound science. However, the food industry needs to work harder on the acceptance of science.

"We need to be better at articulating new technologies like biotech. Unfortunately, we seem to be headed in the other direction,” he added.

Doud, who is the chief negotiator on agriculture for the Trump administration, said US farmers go to sleep every night thinking about how they will be able to produce enough food to feed a global population that is headed for 9bn people by 2050.

The answer, he said, is by using every ounce of technology to produce food as safely and efficiently as possible.

“By using technology, we’re actually improving the environment,” said Doud.

“In the US today, farmers very rarely till the soil anymore. New technology allows farmers to use less fertiliser, less pesticides and results in less soil compaction.

"Soil health in the US has rocketed over recent decades thanks to better technology,” he said.