The Rural Voice, 2002-07, Page 10A NEW CONCEPT
FOR
HANDLING
BALES
• two 5 1/2" augers
provide positive
gentle lift
• eliminates
troublesome chains
• space saving
vertical positioning
• reverse for loading
out of mow
4
• low maintenance —
durable Delron
bearings
• all drive and controls
conveniently at
ground level
AUG -A -BALE
also Mbw systems - installation evadable
WEBER LANE MFG.
(1990) CO.
R R 4. Listowel. ON N4W 3G9
For Sales 8 Service call:
Weber s Farm Service 519-664-1185
BARN
RENOVATIONS
• Renovations to farm
buildings
• Concrete Work
• Manure Tanks
• Using a Bobcat Skid Steer
w/hydraulic hammer,
bucket, six -way blade &
backhoe
BEUERMANN
CONSTRUCTION
R.R. #5 BRUSSELS
519-887-9598
or 519-887-8447
6 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Trading trade principles for politics
Robert
Mercer was
editor of the
Broadwater
Market Letter
and
commentator
for 25 years.
The U.S. President George Bush
only managed to get elected after the
longest recount in U.S. history. He
has not forgotten that. Re-election is
no sure thing for him. Thus, domestic
policy appears to overshadow any
policy initiatives, especially where
foreign trade is concerned.
Six months or so ago, freer trade
still seemed possible with
liberalization talk at the World Trade
organization's Doha round, which is
central to agriculture and the
developing nations.
Now it seems that Mr. Bush has
put politics above principle.
American negotiators in Geneva
(WTO headquarters) may have been
talking about freer trade in
agriculture, but with the new
blunderbuss approach of scattering
dollars over the farm landscape,
Washington politicians are sending
American farmers exactly the
opposite message. A message not lost
on Canadian farmers, Europeans or
those in the third world countries.
In faci Ottawa's reply to the U.S.
Farm Bill is a rescue package of $5.2
billion over six years shared with the
provinces on a 60/40 cost sharing, or
$8.1 billion in total. That all depends
on the provinces sharing in the cost
on what is seen as a trade policy
problem of Federal responsibility, not
provincial. It's not a done deal.
America's commitment to free
trade under the Bush administration
shrivels when it runs into political
pressures at home. Steel, softwood
lumber and agriculture provide votes
in the critical November election
State of West Virginia, Ohio and
Pennsylvania (steel); in the
southern states (lumber) and Iowa,
South Dakota and Missouri
(agriculture).
So what has Europe threatened to
do about this blatantly political
rigging of transatlantic tariff barriers?
Well, they read between the lines
even better than the Americans and
they have been doing it for years with
the Common Agricultural Policy
which has been by far the most
expensive farm subsidy package until
now.
Europe has threatened tit-for-tat
reciprocal tariffs against U.S. steel
protection tariffs under the WTO, to
hit Mr. Bush where it hurts the most
— right in the sensitive agricultural
electoral districts. They intend to hike
tariffs on such U.S. products as
textiles (North Carolina) and
Tropicana orange juice (Florida).
As the WTO round got underway
the E.U. was reluctant to put
agriculture on the table. The U.S. led
the battle against agricultural
protection as it has done before,
especially against the E.U. and Japan.
Now they have opened the very
expensive double doors for a flood of
subsidy cash greater than anything
Europe has now.
For the cynical, it is now easy to
link trade distorting policies of the
U.S. with political vote -catching in
an election year and further down
the political map, for presidential
re-election. But also looking a little
deeper into the backyard mire of
farm policy development, it is
possible to suggest the U.S. subsidies
are fashioned by commodity
lobby groups and agri-business.
The real winners from the U.S.
Farm Bill will be the ten per cent
of farmers who claim 75 per cent of
the cash handed out, and the
corporate traders who win on product
volume and turn over, not market
price.
This whole shift in agricultural
support programs could not only
harm national treasuries, but destroy
the whole thrust of the new WTO
round of talks. That would be more
than a farm disaster.0