Date:  July 27, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Chase Carter
Executive Director
(402) 817-4443
carter@competitivemarkets.com

This editorial is authorized for reprint.

Proponents of CAFTA-DR (Central American Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic) claim farmers and ranchers in the United States and the CAFTA countries will benefit. (The other CAFTA countries are Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic). They assert, unconvincingly, the agricultural sector will somehow benefit as a whole. We must promote democracy and economic opportunity in the CAFTA countries, they say. But CAFTA supporters ignore the agreement’s affect on independent producers, the entrepreneurial backbone of agriculture in all the countries. U.S. producers do not want it. Other CAFTA country producers do not want it.

I am an independent cattle producer in Washington state. I invest my money, undertake risk, and work hard to be the Rational Economic Man the economists say I should be. I am not ignorant. Past experience shows these trade agreement promises are empty.

I heard the same rhetoric when the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) agreement was debated over 10 years ago. NAFTA passed. We all see the outcome first hand. There was no correlation between promises and fulfillment. Lessons have apparently not been learned.

Mexican citizens were promised increased living standards, more employment. Mexican farmers were promised higher incomes. Mexican agriculture shifted drastically from independent entrepreneurs to corporate controlled agriculture. The number of total farmers fell drastically, giving way to a higher unemployment rate and a lowered standard of living. About 1.4 million Mexican producers have lost their jobs since the signing of NAFTA.

Increased democracy and economic opportunity has not resulted. The rural Mexican poverty level increase has been staggering. The situation has truly become one in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Cargill has certainly benefited. The large multi-national corporations have taken over and left the Mexican farmer to starve.

A recent analysis found this:
“Since 2002, Mexican farmers have been clear about the situation and have insisted that they ‘cannot take anymore.’ There was a protest march involving more than 100,000 people on January 21, 2003 that culminated at Mexico City’s central plaza.1”

Mexican farmers have not been alone in these NAFTA hardships. More than 200,000 United States production agriculture jobs have also been lost. American producers have seen import levels rise while competition and price for domestic products plummeted. CAFTA facilitates Tyson and Cargill efforts to procure “Anywhere Pork,” “Anywhere Beef,” “Anywhere Vegetables” while USDA and Congress deny our producers and consumers COOL (Country of Origin Labeling). We are prohibited from differentiating our product with our high regulatory and quality standards. Consumer knowledge as to where their food comes from is prevented.

Some United States producers believed the NAFTA promises, despite the lack of data. Now CAFTA is at our doorstep and we have experienced the effects of a poorly written Free Trade Agreement – NAFTA – which has outsourced our sovereignty, outsourced our agriculture, and outsourced our manufacturing.

Now is the time to decide whether we would like to continue down this road of trade liberalization, a higher trade deficit, lower prices for agricultural products, and a continued loss of sovereignty and independent production, or call our representatives and get CAFTA-DR voted down. Central American farmers do not want the agreement because they have seen what it has done to Mexico.

Call your Representative today, because they will probably vote tonight. Tell them you oppose CAFTA and ask these three questions.

1. Name a domestic production industry that has benefited from free trade.
2. Is there any historical evidence that this will bolster the economy or democracy of any country involved?
3. What is your plan when we have outsourced American agriculture?

Our Founding Fathers and soldiers fought for our democracy and our liberty. Our duty is to exercise the rights they died for. Call your Congressman today.

1 Schwentesius Rinderman, “NAFTA’s Impact on Mexican Agriculture” (June 2003).

The Cattlemen’s Competitive Market Project (CCMP) is a self-help program for U.S. cattlemen, funded through voluntary contributions collected on cattle at the point of sale. Because the program is voluntary, funds may be used to promote USA RAISED (domestically produced) beef where other federally mandated programs cannot.