Idaho Farmers Fuel Trade Fire Lawmaker Hears Concerns In Advance Of Wto Session

Level the playing field for American farmers, North Idaho growers told U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo during a series of town hall meetings last week.

Between tariffs, heavy subsidies for producers in other countries, and a strong U.S. dollar, U.S. growers are at a significant trade disadvantage, they said.

More than 150 North Idaho growers attended the meetings that Crapo, R-Idaho, arranged as a preview to the upcoming World Trade Organization meetings. Crapo is a member of the official delegation to the meetings, which begin Nov. 30 in Seattle.

Farmers from Grangeville to Bonners Ferry voiced similar messages, said Don Dixon, Crapo’s state agriculture director.

“Their real desire was that our government take a strong stand on fairness,” Dixon said.

Agriculture needs a higher priority in trade negotiations, said Richard Lawson, a retired rancher from Tensed.

“American agriculture has been traded away for the movie and high-tech industries,” Lawson said. “It just seems like we’ve thrown him (the U.S. farmer) to the wind.”

Others mentioned the difficulty of competing with Canada’s heavily subsidized cattle industry.

“When you’re talking agriculture - wheat and cattle - think timber too,” added John Ferris, a forester from St. Maries. Many North Idaho farmers also have private timber ground, he noted.

“We also export, and depend on it for 10 percent or so of our market.”

A little piece of Washington is going to the White House this Christmas.

On Oct. 30, two White House staffers will visit Elma, just west of Olympia, to select an 18-foot tree from Ed and Cindy Hedlund’s farm.

The couple won a national contest at an August 1998 convention to supply the tree. They raise eight species of trees, including blue spruce.

The Hedlunds have already selected several candidates on their 60-acre farm. The White House employees will choose the winner, which will stand in the Blue Room.

The tree will arrive at the White House in late November, with final delivery by horse-drawn carriage.

Despite congressional requests for a speedy decision, the U.S. Department of Commerce has yet to announce its findings on an industry dumping complaint against apple-juice concentrate imported from China.

The Commerce Department has until Nov. 15 to make a decision, but a bipartisan group of senators and representatives, along with the apple industry, have been hoping for a decision since Oct. 5, which was the earliest date a decision could have been made.

The Commerce Department would not say Monday whether action could be expected before the deadline.

Soy crunch, or something similar, could soon find its way to your breakfast table.

Just days after the Food and Drug Administration announced plans to allow health claims on food products containing soy protein, Kellogg Co. says it has a soy-based cereal in the works.

The company won’t say when the cereal will hit store shelves. But it does say the product will meet the FDA criteria for making the health claim, which states that consuming 25 grams of soy protein daily, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.