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."