Purdue On NAFTA

Purdue On NAFTA

Kelly Allen
Kelly Allen
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue held a conference call with reporters recently, and discussed a variety of issues both Farmers and Ranchers will want to hear. He discussed his thoughts ranging from the new Farm Bill to the litigation between farmers and the EPA.

The upcoming North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations are on the Secretary's radar as well. He says NAFTA has been a big benefit for American agriculture, but there are some issues that need to be worked out.

"The main principle that they know by now is that agriculture generally has benefited from NAFTA over the last 23 years. Really all three countries (United States, Canada, Mexico) have benefited. That's a good sign of a good system.

"There are some minor irritants that need to be resolved. You have your Canadian dairy issue. They have that oversupply cutting off Wisconsin dairymen from that market.

"The Mexican issue is free market over our potatoes being held out, except along the border. Our grains have done very well there. We want more access to the dairy markets in those countries as well. Overall, it's a do-no-harm kind of thing initially."

His main message for negotiators is do no harm to agriculture and don't hurt American farmers.

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