Global Agriculture: The Big Picture

A meeting held recently in Billings, Montana, highlighted the tangled web of agricultural policies with which American farmers will be dealing within the next few years: free trade with Australia; an integrated beef market with Canada; and drastic changes in current European Union agricultural policies.

The meeting, sponsored by the National Farmers Union, drew more than 500 members from 45 states.

A synopsis of the discussion by four international trade experts…

Free trade with Australia will offer many opportunities for Australian and American farmers alike. Much like their American counterparts, Australian producers are having a tough going earning profits from major commodities such as wool, wheat, cotton, beef and dairy. But unlike American farmers, they have no farm bill and need a world market to remain profitable.

Meanwhile, Canadian cattle producers maintain that an integrated beef market has always benefited growers on both sides of the border --- something lost following detection of BSE in Canadian herds.

Finally, the European Union is contemplating a major shift in farm policy --- a greater emphasis on decoupling, single farm payments and freedom-to-farm-type principles.

As EU policy makers see it, progress in trade negotiations will depend on whether the United States and other developed countries are willing to address all forms of export subsidization --- “including subsidized export credits and food aid as a surplus disposal mechanism,” said Jean-Marc Trarieux, agricultural attache of the delegation of the European Commission to the United States.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at March 24, 2004 09:07 AM | TrackBack