Peter Tabor

Peter V. Tabor is a senior policy advisor in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office and a member of the firm's Public Policy & Regulation Group. He is a co-leader of the group's Agriculture & Food Policy Team. Mr. Tabor advocates for clients on regulatory, trade and sustainability issues in food and agriculture. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from a combined 20 years in federal government and the food/agriculture industry.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Tabor served as the vice president, regulatory and international affairs, for the trade association advocating for the interests of U.S. dog and cat food makers.

His recent engagements include:

• leveraging his significant executive branch knowledge, contacts and resources to secure inclusion of language in the China Phase One Agreement, signed in January 2020, to provide legitimate Chinese market access for U.S. dog and cat food; exports tripled in the first six months that the agreement was in place and are projected to reach $300 million in the near term, up from $10 million in 2019
• coordinating and leading an industry working group, comprised of more than 200 companies and associations, in engaging key congressional members and committee staff to encourage passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
• leading an industry effort to review proposed rules issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Food Safety Modernization Act and then drafting the industry response, resulting in significant changes to the final rule, and assuring U.S. pet food makers' continued ability to operate
• leading an industry-wide sustainability working group that coordinated a university research study on the sustainability and nutritional value of animal proteins in pet food and an industry survey evaluating the challenges to improving recycling rates of pet food containers

Preceding his role advocating for pet food makers, Mr. Tabor served in a variety of capacities of increasing responsibility with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). He led a FAS division tasked with addressing trade and market-access barriers for all exports of U.S. plants and plant products (valued at $70 billion); worked extensively on agricultural biotechnology trade and regulatory policy; and was a key member of the U.S. negotiating teams for several bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), including the Korea-U.S. FTA and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) party biotechnology policy discussions.

Mr. Tabor has extensive and in-depth knowledge of international organizations affecting food and agriculture production and trade, having served as a key member of the U.S. delegation to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' work on plant and animal genetic resources. He worked closely with industry stakeholders to evaluate foreign country sanitary, phytosanitary and technical measures reported to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Mr. Tabor used industry insights and concerns to draft and deliver official U.S. comments to the WTO.

Throughout his career in food and agriculture policy and regulation, Mr. Tabor's fluency in Spanish has been an asset in establishing and maintaining ties with key foreign officials (including embassy officials) and industry representatives throughout Latin America and the world.