FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                    CONTACT:   Phillip Hayes
Tuesday, August 4, 2009                                                                 435-604-3113

PARK CITY, Utah—U.S. trade negotiators will have a difficult time rebalancing World Trade Organization talks to benefit America’s farmers, Congressman Frank Lucas, the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee said today at the 26th International Sweetener Symposium.

“I have a hard time, in all fairness, seeing how that can be accomplished,” he said in response to a question about the prospect of the Doha Round successfully concluding in a way that would aid U.S. producers.

Farmers and ranchers voiced their concern last year with President George Bush about the direction of WTO negotiations.  They recently reiterated their position to President Barack Obama, claiming U.S. agriculture would be on the losing end of the current Doha deal under consideration.

The agreement currently on the table would weaken the 2008 Farm Bill while resulting in very little market access for U.S. agricultural products around the world, says Don Phillips, the American Sugar Alliance’s trade advisor.

And gutting the 2008 Farm Bill would be unacceptable to Congressional leaders like Lucas from Oklahoma.

You have to have a Farm Bill to address the imbalance in world markets created by foreign subsidies, he told the group.

But maintaining a strong Farm Bill requires more than simply avoiding a bad Doha deal.  Farmers must “work to get their message across,” he said of the need to better educate lawmakers and others from urban areas.

People don’t always understand “how intertwined agriculture is with their [local] economies,” he concluded.

-0-