06/27/05 One state`s view of CAFTA-DR

Both sides of Congress received the Central American  Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement for their consideration last week, after President Bush signed the agreement. Congress will have ninety days from the day of signing to cast an up or down vote on the measure. Needless to say, groups both for and against C.A.F.T.A.- D.R. will step up their efforts to convince their lawmakers, within their voting district, state, or Congress in general, to vote one way or another. Prior to the Presidential signing of C.A.F.T.A.-D.R., Oregon Farm Bureau held a press conference that brought members and various commodity producers together to present a message & they were behind the trade deal. BASHUE: In the state of Oregon alone, we'd probably have increased exports of wheat to $1.3 million dollars, vegetables up to $1.2 million, beef and cow all of up to $1.1 million dollars, and fruits of $739,000 dollars. And as Oregon Farm Bureau President Barry Bashue puts it, when you put those kinds of numbers together, it means big business for Oregon agriculture. Let it be said not all of Oregon agriculture is behind the trade deal. But Bashue says most major commodities in Oregon stand to benefit from passage of C.A.F.T.A.- D.R. And that is why several groups representing those commodities are making it a point to let their lawmakers know they need to support the trade deal. For example, a recent letter by groups from the wheat, potato, and fruit industries in Oregon was addressed to Second Congressional District Representative Greg Walden. In it, those groups called for his support of C.A.F.T.A.-D.R. BASHUE: It's likely that in the Second Congressional District alone in the State of Oregon, there's likely to be direct benefits from C.A.F.T.A. totally somewhere between $5.9 and $9.5 million dollars a year. Bashue says considering both of his state's Senators, one a Republican and one a Democrat, voted to pass C.A.F.T.A.-D.R. out of the Senate Finance Committee, and that there is strong support for the trade agreement from members of both major political parties, he is very hopeful that C.A.F.T.A.-D.R. will be adopted by Congress, and that Oregon agriculture will soon have new and improved markets to ship its commodities to. BASHUE: It's always a crapshoot when you're talking about Congress. Certainly, from an agricultural perspective and from a member of a general farm organization, we would hope the people making these votes will recognize the value of agriculture to the nation's economy, and that they would tie that to C.A.F.T.A..