The National Farmers Union stood before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee June 7, to tell its members that the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is a raw deal for American farmers and ranchers.

NFU Vice President of Government Relations Tom Buis told the committee that farmers and ranchers are extremely concerned about the impact of globalization and trade agreements upon their operations.

"The reason for increased skepticism," said Buis, "is that the results of agricultural trade negotiations and the agreements that follow have consistently failed to match the promises and rhetoric of free trade proponents."

NFU told the Agriculture committee that CAFTA is yet another empty promise that continues the failed trade policies of the past. Estimates of sizable trade gains for U.S. farmers and ranchers are overly optimistic. The CAFTA countries have a combined population of approximately 40 million people with limited resources that can be used for the purchase of agricultural products.

"If the Free Trade of the Americas agreement becomes reality or if CAFTA nations establish similar agreements with other countries, these limited market opportunities would become further reduced," Buis said.

Not only does CAFTA encourage a race to the bottom for producer prices, it ignores major issues that distort fair trade such as labor, environmental regulations and currency. The costs of complying with labor and environmental standards are a major component of U.S. agriculture. Forcing U.S. farmers to compete with farmers from nations which do not have these same high standards gives those foreign producers a competitive advantage.

NFU supports fair trade, but does not support CAFTA which trades away U.S. agricultural markets for no visible returns to American farmers and ranchers.

Date: 6/21/05

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