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by Amy Beth Graves

The numbers are telling – at least a $17 million gain per year for Ohio’s major commodities if the Central American Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) passes.

"It’s clearly a win-win for Ohio and U.S. agriculture," said Constance Jackson, vice president of agricultural ecology for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF).

With a CAFTA-DR vote looming in Congress, OFBF has been working on getting the message out that the trade agreement is needed to level the playing field for U.S. farmers. If passed, CAFTA-DR would eliminate most tariffs between the United States and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

More than 99 percent of these nations’ products already enter the United States duty-free under other agreements, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). On the other hand, U.S. agricultural exports currently face tariffs as high as 43 percent, according to AFBF.

"These tariffs put U.S. producers at a disadvantage in a competitive market," AFBF board member Larry Wooten told the House Ways and Means Committee last month.

OFBF has teamed up with the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association to emphasize the need for CAFTA-DR to pass by sending out news releases and letters to Ohio’s Congressional delegation. The two groups cited statistics that show Ohio’s exports to CAFTA-DR countries were about $170 million in 2003, making those countries Ohio’s 18^th largest export market. Ohio’s exports to those countries have increased by nearly $80 million since 1999, federal statistics showed.

If the trade agreement passes, Ohio’s major commodities could be imported to CAFTA-DR nations with lower – or even no – tariffs. That would translate into a gain of at least $17 million per year: $5 million for poultry, $4 million for soybeans and $2 million each for live animals/meat products, wheat, feed grains and dairy, Jackson said. The state’s fruit and vegetable industry also would gain, she said.

An AFBF analysis shows U.S. agricultural exports would increase by $1.5 billion per year after full implementation of the agreement in 2024. The CAFTA-DR countries bought $1.8 billion of U.S. farm and food products last year for its 44 million consumers, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns.

Jackson said the positives of CAFTA-DR outweigh the negatives. The U.S. sugar industry has been lobbying hard against the trade agreement, saying it could cause a flood of sugar imports. But Jackson said such opposition is unwarranted, noting that AFBF analysis shows the impact on the U.S. sugar industry would be minimal.

"The opposition to CAFTA is not grounded in real numbers," she said.

Jackson also said passing CAFTA-DR is crucial for future trade talks.

"If we can’t pass such a clear winner for agriculture as CAFTA-DR, then I fear there isn’t a trade agreement that could come before Congress that would pass," she said. "It will also cause other countries to question our commitment to trade reform – jeopardizing our efforts in the WTO negotiations."

Adam Sharp, director of OFBF’s national affairs, said Farm Bureau members need to contact their U.S. representatives in support of CAFTA-DR.

"Passage of CAFTA should be a priority for Ohio farmers," he said. "In an era of rising input costs and increasing regulation, Ohio's farmers need to take advantage of every opportunity to open new markets and increase the ones we have. That's what CAFTA does."