Posted July 29, 2005 Ames,
Iowa: Future U.S. Farm Bills and trade agreements must
drastically change if consumers and family farmers are to benefit,
according to a group of Iowa family farmers who met to discuss the
upcoming Farm Bill. The group meeting was held simultaneously with
the first of several USDA-sponsored public forum discussions on
the same topic. Speakers at the Ames meeting said that the USDA
meeting agenda clearly demonstrated the Administration’s bias
toward maintaining policies which profit multinational corporations
instead of the public good.
“You can’t talk about the U.S. Farm Bill without confronting
head on the role of multinational corporations and how they dominate
farm and trade policy,” said George Naylor, Churdan farmer,
National Family Farm Coalition President and Iowa Citizens for Community
Improvement (Iowa CCI) member. “It is ludicrous for Secretary
Johanns to claim he’s holding a meaningful discussion on farm
policy when he excludes the impact of the WTO and other trade agreements
that pit family farmers around the world against each other for
the benefit of multinational corporations.”
“We are losing our quality of life because of corporate monopolies
and concentration,” added Chris Petersen, President of the
Iowa Farmers Union, who farms near Clear Lake. “The new Farm
Bill could be a golden opportunity to change directions, and we
have specific policy proposals that would return profitability to
the family farm sector of agriculture. The current policies, which
promote more production using fewer farmers, are destroying our
rural communities.”
Dennis Olson, Trade Director of the Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy gave a presentation showing the dismal ten-year track
record of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and recent
export-oriented U.S. Farm Bills. “The U.S. is projected to
become a net importer of agricultural products for the first time
since 1959,” Olson said. “Obviously the promises made
a decade ago that U.S. farmers would export their way to prosperity
have proven false. It’s time to rethink and consider viable
alternatives as we begin the debate over the next farm bill.”
Olson also presented highlights of two recently published reports
from his institute that document threats posed by the recently adopted
Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to U.S. sugar and
ethanol production. Olson said CAFTA would expand the failed NAFTA
model to Central America.
“Look at the winners of the current system: Cargill, ADM,
and Smithfield,” said Larry Ginter, a farmer from Rhodes,
and a member of Iowa CCI. “The people with power who negotiate
these farm bills and trade agreements should look out for the public
interest, not just corporate interests. That’s why there must
be a place at the policy table for grassroots organizations that
truly represent family farmers, workers, and others who have a stake
in healthy, sustainable agriculture and communities.”
The Ames farm and trade policy meeting was sponsored by the Iowa
Farmers Union; Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement; Women, Food,
and Agriculture Network; Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter; and the National
Family Farm Coalition.
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