WTO Commitments Require Rethinking of U.S. Agricultural Policy Corn Growers Call for Change in Course to Secure Farmer Livelihoods Worldwide

WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug. 4, 2004 – Following recent commitments by the Bush administration to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to further reduce the safety net for America’s farm families, Keith Dittrich, president of the American Corn Growers (ACGA) says it is time to rethink U.S. agricultural policy.

“It is evident that we must change course to secure the livelihoods of U.S. farmers and farmers worldwide,” said Dittrich. “Subsidies are simply a necessary treatment for the devastating disease of low prices. If we are to eliminate the critical treatment, we must eliminate the disease. If Congress ratifies the commitments of the Bush Administration to the WTO, they must also work toward policies, domestically and internationally, that support prices at a level that do not depend on subsidies. Since the House Agriculture committee has already opened the 2002 farm bill by voting to eliminate Country of Origin Labeling as required in said bill, and committee staff has recently announced farm bill hearings for next year, we call on the same committee and staff to work toward this crucial change in policy as soon as possible.”

“We urge all those interested in global food production, global family agriculture, and developing countries to read the groundbreaking research report Rethinking U.S. Agriculture Policy: Changing Course to Secure Farmer Livelihoods Worldwide, by the Agriculture Policy Analysis Center (APAC), part of the University of Tennessee, a land-grant university,” added Dittrich. “This report goes comprehensively to the heart of the ever more contentious trade issues of farm subsidies in developed countries, low world commodity prices, and global poverty.”

“We ask the House and Senate agriculture committees to thoughtfully review this research. It concludes that even if the difficult task of negotiating the elimination of global farm subsidies is completed, family-based agriculture will continue to spiral downward as a result of continued low commodity prices,” concluded Dittrich. “Farmer-oriented policies and international cooperation are the real solutions.”

APAC’s analysis and blueprint for discussion includes acreage diversion through short-term conservation uses and longer-term acreage reserves, a farmer-owned food security reserve, and price supports as a replacement for the current and expensive policy of direct government subsidies. It also explores the use of energy crops as a viable alternative to short and long-term acreage diversion options.

For more information about the study, please go to http://agpolicy.org/blueprint.html

The American Corn Growers Association represents 14,000 members in 35 states. See www.acga.org.