Enlaces News #5 (October 2003)

Binational Small Farmer Dialogues: National Family Farm Coalition Sponsors
Midwestern Speaking Tour

This summer, the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) sponsored a Midwestern speaking tour of two representatives of the Mexican organization CIOAC (Independent Center for Farmworkers and Farmers). From July 9-19, these Mexican small farmer representatives traveled throughout the Midwestern U.S., meeting with small farmers and community organizations to discuss their shared concerns about global food policies. George Naylor, NFFC president and a small farmer from Iowa, participated in the second half of the tour. Enlaces America organized an event in Chicago on July 19 (see below).

Background: Free Trade and Small Farmers

The tour was part of a broader effort of small farmers throughout North America to strengthen cross-border dialogue and to educate the public about the effects of current trade liberalization and agricultural policies on rural communities in Mexico as well as the U.S. Many defenders of family farmers throughout the the hemisphere are concerned that the United States and other developed countries are using global forums like the World Trade Organization, as well as regional agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to protect large agribusiness interests to the detriment of local rural communities.

Statistics compiled by the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) and its affiliates paint a stark picture of the impact of U.S. policies:

Important facts about U.S. agriculture:

· 82% of US corn exports are controlled by 3 agribusiness firms.
· Over 73% of the nation’s farms share only 6.8% of the market value of agriculture products, while 7.2% of farms, including giant feedlots, receive 72.1% of the market value of products sold. These figures illustrate the growing shift towards large operations controlled by large agribusiness.
· Since 1984, the real price of food has remained constant, while the price farmers receive has fallen by 38%.
· For 8 of the 10 years since NAFTA was signed, average U.S. farmer income has been lower than it was before NAFTA.
· 96% of U.S. farmers’ net income now comes from off-farm employment.

International impacts of free trade in agriculture:

· Despite the promises made before NAFTA regarding benefits farmers would see from free trade, according to the secretary of Social Development in Mexico, there are now more poor people than ever before in history. In 1992, 36% of the rural population was “food insecure”. Today that number has risen to 52.4%.
· Since the signing of NAFTA, migration from rural areas has skyrocketed. Today 270,000 Mexicans per year migrate to urban areas or to the U.S. in search of employment.
· More than 80% of Mexico’s poor live in the countryside, 2 million of those being corn producers.
· Between 1996 and 2001, the number of family farms in Canada fell by 11% due to government policies that support corporate agriculture, not family farms.

The Midwestern Speaking Tour

Tour organizers aimed to nurture dialogue around these issues, and to create spaces where small farmers from the U.S. and Mexico could begin to explore alternatives. The Mexican speakers met with small farmers, community organizations, church groups, and environmental activists in Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. They participated in panel discussions and press conferences, and toured a number of small Midwestern farms. To their surprise, the Mexican speakers heard throughout the tour from small Midwestern farmers that the U.S. subsidy system does not help small U.S. farmers, and that they are increasingly unable to cover their costs of production. These conversations drove home the reality that current agricultural and food policies are benefiting the corporate agribusiness sector, not local communities anywhere.

In several towns, speakers and their host community groups were joined by representatives of the growing Mexican immigrant communities. Ironically, many Mexican immigrants working in industrial food processing plants in the rural Midwest are former small farmers forced off their land by Mexico’s rapid shift towards free trade and export-oriented agriculture.

In Chicago, Enlaces America organized a panel discussion which included the Mexican small farmer representatives, two small farmers from the U.S., and a Chicago Mexican immigrant leader who was formerly a small farmer in the state of Michoacan. More than thirty Mexican immigrant leaders attended the gathering. Participants stressed that Mexican immigrants in the U.S. constitute a critical constituency for more sustainable food and agricultural policies, given that many of them have experienced firsthand rural displacement generated by current trade liberalization efforts. Indeed, many of them come from farm families or rural communities and are acutely aware of the lack of opportunities in rural areas. Immigrant leaders in the Chicago meeting also recalled the pleasures of eating fresh produce and farm products and lamented the prevalence of “junk food” in Mexican communities throughout the U.S. Mexican immigrants constitute an ever-increasing consumer base and as such offer enormous potential for partnerships with small farmers in Mexico. Meeting participants left with a renewed sense of energy and commitment to exploring those possibilities.

Article courtesy of Sherry Stanley