Idaho claims " and government agrees " that Canadian imports have hurt potato growers
Idaho claims " and government agrees " that Canadian imports have hurt potato growers
A drop in fresh potato prices from an already low five-year average of 4.9 cents per pound to just 3.85 cents per pound for the 2003 season is in large measure a result of a flood of low-priced processed french fries coming into the U.S. domestic market from Canada, according to the Idaho potato industry.
Industry representatives, under the auspices of Potato Growers of Idaho, recently petitioned the federal government for financial assistance in compensation for the losses they incurred due to the depressed markets.
A press release from Potato Growers of Idaho dated March 23 stated that the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture had approved PGI?s petition under the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers Program. The program "is designed to help farmers whose income is severely impacted by the importation of a foreign good," and the department?s announcement "means that Idaho potato growers will be eligible for several types of assistance," according to the release.
The assistance includes a small cash compensation for losses and eligibility for some basic business management workshops.
The petition "claimed " that a large surge of imported french fries from Canada occurred at the same time Idaho growers lost a large market with the closing of a processing plant in Heyburn, Idaho," stated the press release.
The release quoted Mike Telford, a grower from Paul, ID, as saying that "the approval of the trade assistance petition is another proof that NAFTA and free trade have not been good for Idaho farmers."
According to a March 28 article in The Wall Street Journal, the compensation payment which growers can receive will come to 3.5 cents per hundred pounds of potatoes. The article quoted Keith Esplin, executive director of Potato Growers of Idaho, as saying, "It's a drop in the bucket for any average potato farmer?s cost. It won?t anywhere near begin to make up for his losses."
In fact, it represents less than 3.5 percent of the loss incurred by the market drop.
But according to Frank Muir, president of the Idaho Potato Commission, the significance of the USDA?s approval of the growers? petition goes beyond the little bit of cash they may receive.
?It gets the U.S. government to start paying attention to the effect this is having on U.S. growers, particularly Northwest growers," Mr. Muir told The Produce News. "It just makes the point that we are being hurt financially? and the government has now "agreed that we have been hurt financially because of Canada?s unfair pricing practices."
While Canadian processed french fry production and exports to the United States have increased, the export of U.S.-grown potatoes into Canada has been restricted by ministerial exemptions and phytosanitary requirements that are different from what the United States requires, Mr. Muir said.
The Canadian growers "have been able to play pretty much an unfair game, moving product across the border and preventing us from moving product into their country."
Those factors have "turned the United States into a net importer of potatoes the last three years," he said. "We are challenging them? on violation of dumping laws, he said, noting that a dumping study has been completed.
In addition, "Pat Cole, vice president of government affairs and legal matters [for the commission], has been working for the last couple of years with other states in trying to put pressure on our own government to put pressure on the [World Trade Organization] to get the Canadian government to re-evaluate those ministerial exemptions, which effectively keep us from shipping potatoes across the border," Mr. Muir said.
The commission has the support of "all of the potato organizations here in the state of Idaho? as well as organizations throughout the Northwest "and probably the entire U.S. this year," he said.
Mr. Cole told The Produce News that subsequent to the dumping study, the U.S. trade representative "is willing to bring a formal action against the Canadians." As a precursor to the formal action, the governments are now involved in "what they call a negotiation period," he explained. "A series of issues have been placed before the Canadian government," which is now collecting information and preparing a response. "We expect to see [that response] quite soon," he said.
?All we have ever wanted is to have fair and transparent implementation of NAFTA across both sides of the border," said Mr. Muir. "That was the entire intent of NAFTA, but that is not what is happening."
Industry representatives, under the auspices of Potato Growers of Idaho, recently petitioned the federal government for financial assistance in compensation for the losses they incurred due to the depressed markets.
A press release from Potato Growers of Idaho dated March 23 stated that the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture had approved PGI?s petition under the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers Program. The program "is designed to help farmers whose income is severely impacted by the importation of a foreign good," and the department?s announcement "means that Idaho potato growers will be eligible for several types of assistance," according to the release.
The assistance includes a small cash compensation for losses and eligibility for some basic business management workshops.
The petition "claimed " that a large surge of imported french fries from Canada occurred at the same time Idaho growers lost a large market with the closing of a processing plant in Heyburn, Idaho," stated the press release.
The release quoted Mike Telford, a grower from Paul, ID, as saying that "the approval of the trade assistance petition is another proof that NAFTA and free trade have not been good for Idaho farmers."
According to a March 28 article in The Wall Street Journal, the compensation payment which growers can receive will come to 3.5 cents per hundred pounds of potatoes. The article quoted Keith Esplin, executive director of Potato Growers of Idaho, as saying, "It's a drop in the bucket for any average potato farmer?s cost. It won?t anywhere near begin to make up for his losses."
In fact, it represents less than 3.5 percent of the loss incurred by the market drop.
But according to Frank Muir, president of the Idaho Potato Commission, the significance of the USDA?s approval of the growers? petition goes beyond the little bit of cash they may receive.
?It gets the U.S. government to start paying attention to the effect this is having on U.S. growers, particularly Northwest growers," Mr. Muir told The Produce News. "It just makes the point that we are being hurt financially? and the government has now "agreed that we have been hurt financially because of Canada?s unfair pricing practices."
While Canadian processed french fry production and exports to the United States have increased, the export of U.S.-grown potatoes into Canada has been restricted by ministerial exemptions and phytosanitary requirements that are different from what the United States requires, Mr. Muir said.
The Canadian growers "have been able to play pretty much an unfair game, moving product across the border and preventing us from moving product into their country."
Those factors have "turned the United States into a net importer of potatoes the last three years," he said. "We are challenging them? on violation of dumping laws, he said, noting that a dumping study has been completed.
In addition, "Pat Cole, vice president of government affairs and legal matters [for the commission], has been working for the last couple of years with other states in trying to put pressure on our own government to put pressure on the [World Trade Organization] to get the Canadian government to re-evaluate those ministerial exemptions, which effectively keep us from shipping potatoes across the border," Mr. Muir said.
The commission has the support of "all of the potato organizations here in the state of Idaho? as well as organizations throughout the Northwest "and probably the entire U.S. this year," he said.
Mr. Cole told The Produce News that subsequent to the dumping study, the U.S. trade representative "is willing to bring a formal action against the Canadians." As a precursor to the formal action, the governments are now involved in "what they call a negotiation period," he explained. "A series of issues have been placed before the Canadian government," which is now collecting information and preparing a response. "We expect to see [that response] quite soon," he said.
?All we have ever wanted is to have fair and transparent implementation of NAFTA across both sides of the border," said Mr. Muir. "That was the entire intent of NAFTA, but that is not what is happening."
