Thread: Mexican farmers complain about NAFTA at MU

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Sep ... ews001.asp

Mexican farmers complain about NAFTA at MU


By JOSH FLORY of the Tribune’s staff
Published Saturday, September 24, 2005
American farmers might be pleased that free trade agreements give them more opportunities to sell crops in Mexico. But during a visit to the University of Missouri-Columbia, a pair of Mexican farm advocates yesterday urged farmers to think about the consequences for their southern neighbors.

Jesus Leon Santos of the southern state of Oaxaca and Pedro Torres Ochoa of northern Mexico’s Chihuahua state are in the midst of a 10-day tour sponsored by a Catholic relief agency.

Speaking yesterday to a small group of faculty and students at Mumford Hall, the activists decried the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on their country.

Speaking through a translator, Santos said that before NAFTA, Mexican farmers could sell corn for about 3 pesos a kilogram. He said they now can only get 1.5 pesos per kilogram. The reason, he said, is that local products, especially corn, have been displaced by imports from the north. At the same time, the prices of fertilizer and tortillas have increased.

"We’re not trying to speak out against U.S. farmers," Santos said. He added later, "We have to be thinking … what are the overall effects of this?"

One effect Santos cited was a sharp increase in poverty, which he said is related to a boost in migration to the United States.

Ochoa, the former coordinator of an association for small farmers in Chihuahua, said small producers of corn and beans have almost disappeared in the wake of NAFTA because economic conditions make it impossible for them to compete. He said his organization has been committed to "walking on both feet: protest and proposal."

Ochoa said his Democratic Campesino Front began occupying bridges between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, in 2003 and has had success in unifying advocacy groups for small farmers. Although that approach has helped get the attention of the government, he said, it hasn’t produced the concrete results his organization is seeking.

Although NAFTA might have caused problems for Mexican farmers, it has been a boon for some of their American counterparts.

Garrett Hawkins of the Missouri Farm Bureau said that before NAFTA, American farmers exported about $5 billion in agricultural products to Canada and another $3.5 billion to Mexico. Now, he said, American farmers export about $15 billion in agricultural products annually to those two countries. "I think, in general, when you look at NAFTA, it has been a win for us," Hawkins said.

In an interview yesterday afternoon, Santos said there don’t necessarily have to be winners and losers when building markets.

"Each of our governments needs to promote its own consumer base and link its own producers with that consumer base," he said. "The United States is importing a lot of things, too, from outside that could be produced by its own producers."

Garrett Hawkins of the Missouri Farm Bureau said that before NAFTA, American farmers exported about $5 billion in agricultural products to Canada and another $3.5 billion to Mexico. Now, he said, American farmers export about $15 billion in agricultural products annually to those two countries. "I think, in general, when you look at NAFTA, it has been a win for us," Hawkins said.

Of course exports increase, the population has increased and therefore demand increases. How many farmers lost their farms because of NAFTA? Did this increase only help Farm Corporations or did it help the little guy?

Speaking through a translator, Santos said that before NAFTA, Mexican farmers could sell corn for about 3 pesos a kilogram. He said they now can only get 1.5 pesos per kilogram. The reason, he said, is that local products, especially corn, have been displaced by imports from the north. At the same time, the prices of fertilizer and tortillas have increased

Mexico now imports more Corn than they export, they dont even produce enough to even export or sell within thier own markets.

P

Well someone has posted up a rehash of the benefits to the American farmers. That really does not address the situation for the Mexican farmers.

What these two Mexican farmers are doing is a repetition of what is one of the most frequently used excuses for the problem of illegal immigration. It is very important to ask what these small farmers would have done if that northern border had not been open.

Instead of thinking in terms of the loss of the central Mexican industrial market the farmers in this situation should have just started adding value themselves.
¡¡¡MAIZ ESTA BARATA !!!
....CORN IS CHEAP!!!

The cost of feeding poultry and livestock on rural farms has gone down as the central market has stopped competing buying their corn. It is now possible for those communities to employ more people since more are needed to feed the poultry and livestock than simply sell corn as corn.

If corn is only selling at 1.5 or even 3 pesos a kilo then more money is being made by truckers than farmers on each kilo. Meat has a much higher price per kilo and a smaller per centage would go to transportation cost. The cost of shipping is much higher per mile in Mexico than it is in the United States.

Meats if salted, dried, pressed and smoked instead of frozen are enhanced by locally processed operations that would put even more money and jobs into the hands of the local farmers.

Proxima problema Nnneeexxxttt