The Foreign Service Journal, June 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2019 37 A t each of my postings, one central agricultural issue seems to rise above the rest. Whether it is Ya pears in China, guavas in Mexico, mangoes in both Pakistan and India, or pomegranates in Afghanistan, one commodity will always come to the fore and define that tour. When I arrived in Bogotá in the fall of 2016, I quickly realized this tour would be no different. Avocado market access was at the core of all issues. It was a talking point in nearly every speech by Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos. Clearly, exporting that crop to the United States was a top priority. AvocadoDiplomacy Supporting Peace in Colombia Marc Gilkey is a Senior Foreign Service officer who has served for 25 years with the U.S. Department of Agri- culture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. He is currently posted to Bogotá, where he is the re- gional manager for Latin America and the Caribbean. He served previously in Afghanistan, Mexico, India, Belgium and Colombia, in addition to assignments in San Francisco, California, and Washington, D.C. He is a U.S. Navy veteran. Helping the country get its avocados into the export market is a win-win for Colombia and the United States. BY MARC G I LKEY ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/OAT _PHAWAT Although the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is at the heart of most agricultural trade issues, it tends to have a light footprint overseas—typically a Foreign Service officer and two locally employed staff members, one technical and one administrative, at some 20 posts around the world, each cover- ing a large geographic area. APHIS International Services helps resolve sanitary/phytosanitary issues on the global stage through its cadre of FSOs and local employees. We collaborate with foreign counterparts at diplomatic, technical and policy levels to promote science-based regulatory transparency that leads to safe agricultural trade. Opening a New Market: The Process In Colombia I was fortunate to have Dr. Roberto Guzman, a locally employed technical expert, on the ground. He is a veteri- narian, but in our jobs we have to do everything; I’m an entomol- ogist but work on animal health issues, for example, in addition to insects. Dr. Guzman had already been laying the groundwork for getting Colombian avocados into the U.S. market. This involved disseminating information to growers about the poten- tial requirements for export, such as conducting surveillance for insects, registering production areas, establishing buffer zones and safeguarding the product (from insects) in packhouses. FEATURE