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Leaders say new trade agreement should benefit corn, soybeans and cotton.
Corn, soybean and cotton producers, all heavily dependent on exports, should benefit from the new Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
In what became a battle as big as the one generated by NAFTA legislation in the '90s, CAFTA received the signature of President George W. Bush on Aug. 2 after a partisan congressional vote that was as narrow as his victory over Sen. John Kerry.
Leaders in the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and American Soybean Association (ASA) feel their 11th hour telephone campaigns helped CAFTA's passage in a vote of 217-215 in the House of Representatives, after the U.S. Senate had approved it by a vote of 54-45.
CAFTA's purpose is to reduce or eliminate unfair duties applied to U.S. corn, soybean and other agricultural products exported to six countries that are customers of American farmers - El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rico and the Dominican Republic. Opponents of its passage argued that CAFTA would open the U.S. to more agricultural imports and cost many Americans their jobs.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) was one opponent. "CAFTA trades away American producers' ability to compete fairly in a global economy," says NFU president Dave...