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The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), along with state Farm Bureaus throughout the country including Ohio, has urged the U.S. House to quickly pass bipartisan legislation to grant the president much-needed trade negotiating authority. A vote on the legislation is expected at any time.

Farm Bureau believes passage of the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2001 (H.R. 3005) is needed to improve the economic outlook for America's farmers and ranchers. Without the authority to negotiate new and better trade deals, U.S. agriculture will continue to be at a disadvantage in the world market.

Approving Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) was one of the issues focused on during the August Congressional Blitz when Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) members wrote nearly 800 letters to U.S. representatives.

Each of Ohio’s 19 Congressmen were contacted the week of Nov. 5 encouraging support for H.R. 3005, according to Keith Stimpert, OFBF vice president of government affairs. And county Farm Bureaus were asked to contact legislators during the week of Nov. 11 urging support for TPA rules.

"Every day that Congress delays granting trade negotiating authority to the president, U.S. agricultural exports face trade-distorting domestic supports that are four times greater than U.S. supports, tariffs that are on average five times greater than our own, and export subsidies that are 40 times what our producers receive," AFBF President Bob Stallman wrote to the House. "The net result is that our share of the world market continues to erode while import competition continues to increase."

Stallman reiterated that the trade negotiating legislation must be approved before Congress adjourns this session to allow the administration to begin to correct the trade imbalances that hurt farmer and rancher income.

"We can only dismantle these barriers to trade if the president is granted this authority," Stallman said.