November 30, 2005 Source: University of Saskatchewan: http://www.usask.ca/events/news/articles/20051130-2.html U of S Ag Economists Say WTO Ag Agreement Will Hurt Canadian Producers Organization: University of Saskatchewan Communications Email: communications@usask.ca Released: Nov. 30, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 30, 2005 2005-11-27-AG U of S Ag Economists Say WTO Ag Agreement Will Hurt Canadian Producers University of Saskatchewan agricultural economists Richard Gray and Hartley Furtan say two proposals scheduled for review at the World Trade Organization's sixth ministerial conference in December are damaging to Canadian agricultural producers. Their complete analysis is available in the form of a Canada Rural Economy Research Lab policy brief which can be downloaded at http://crerl.usask.ca. The WTO meetings are set for December 13-18 in Hong Kong, China where agriculture tariffs, farm subsidies and market access will be negotiated and participants will try to develop a new trade agreement for agriculture. A significant portion of Canada's wealth originates from international trade. Agriculture is no exception to this rule, particularly for the grains and oilseeds sector. Consequently, the WTO negotiations are delicate for Canadian politicians and vitally important to Canadian agricultural producers. Professors Gray and Furtan have reviewed the United States and European Union proposals and see little benefit for Canadian producers. The authors point out that both proposals would eliminate the single-desk authority of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). "While the time may have come for more changes to the CWB, the removal of the single-desk selling authority as suggested in the trade proposals would be very poor policy for western Canadian grain farmers who use and value its services. More thought and consideration needs to be given to what takes its place. The current proposals place a large cost on Canadian farmers, particularly western grain producers, while delivering few if any economic benefits in return," said Gray. Many of the Canadian supply managed sectors could also lose some or all of their tariff protection (dairy, poultry, egg, turkey, and hatching egg producers), especially if the more stringent United States proposal on tariff reduction were adopted. Furtan said, "We could not find many positive indicators in the current proposals. Proposed subsidies to US and EU grain and oilseed producers are not expected to change much, so there will be very little upside in terms of increases in world agricultural commodity prices." For more information, please download the Policy Brief located at: http://crerl.usask.ca or contact: Richard Gray Agriculture Economics College of Agriculture University of Saskatchewan Tel: (306) 966-4026 Hartley Furtan Agriculture Economics College of Agriculture University of Saskatchewan Tel: (306) 966-4032
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