Some groups upset about Obama farm trade nominee

WASHINGTON Oct 28 (Reuters) - A coalition of small-farm and anti-pesticide groups say they want the Senate to reject the White House pick for chief agricultural trade negotiator because of his work with large chemical companies.

Islam "Isi" Siddiqui, who held senior posts at the U.S. Agriculture Department during the Clinton era, has been a vice president at CropLife America since 2001. [ID:nN23401396]

CropLife represents companies that produce pesticides and genetically modified crops, including BASF BASF.DE, Bayer CropScience (BAYGn.DE), Dow AgroSciences (DOW.N), du Pont Co (DD.N), Monsanto Co (MON.N) and Syngenta (SYNN.VX).

"The U.S. negotiating position ... has been very much to push a pro-free trade, pro-technology, pro-biotech, pro-pesticide approach on an international level," said Katherine Ozer of the National Family Farm Coalition.

"Appointing somebody like Siddiqui to be the chief trade negotiator in our view enforces that the agenda is not going to change very much," Ozer said.

Other groups opposed to the nomination are the Pesticide Action Network, the Organic Consumers Association, the Center for Food Safety and the Farmworker Association of Florida.

Siddiqui was a registered lobbyist only from 2001 until 2003, a spokesman for the White House said, noting that he had extensive scientific and policy experience working for California's agriculture department and the USDA.

"He spent 32 years in public service -- fully 80 percent of his career," Ben LaBolt said.

The Senate Finance Committee will consider Siddiqui's nomination at a Nov. 4 hearing, along with that of Michael Punke as U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization.

A group of business organization has urged the committee to quickly approve Punke's nomination so that he is in place for an upcoming WTO ministerial conference.

Large, mainstream farm groups have written to the committee to support Siddiqui's nomination, citing his scientific background and experience in technical trade issues.

Many thorny agricultural trade issues concern highly technical issues. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has said he will step up enforcement of trade deals with a particular focus on technical barriers. [ID:nN16130244]

"I think that his background will give him a bit of edge in dealing with these things," said Mark Maslyn, executive director for public policy with the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest agricultural group.

Maslyn said he was not concerned that the complaints about Siddiqui would hold up his confirmation by the Senate.

"He's the not the kind of guy who's going to be a shill for industry. That's just not him. So I'm disappointed to read that these groups feel that way, because that's not the Isi Siddiqui that I've known and worked with," Maslyn said. (Editing by Christian Wiessner)