U.S. farmers and their European counterparts have common goals in regard to food safety, soil health and nutrient management, but their approaches to achieving those goals are often worlds apart.

Understanding, and perhaps smoothing out, some of those differences is one of the goals of a new initiative aimed at advancing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The Transatlantic Dialogue in­­volves a series of discussions and trade exchanges involving German diplomats and the Iowa and Illinois Farm Bureaus over the next two years.

Food safety and environmental regulations can be a sticking point for agricultural trade negotiations. While the United States government puts science first in its food safety...