International farm leaders band together against protectionism

Farm leaders from around the world have joined with Federated Farmers to condemn protectionism and international trade barriers.

Federated Farmers President, Don Nicolson and vice president, Frank Brenmuhl, are on their way home following a meeting of the Cairns Group Farm Leaders in Indonesia this week.

“This was certainly a successful trip to Bali and we have gathered a lot of support in our fight against the resurrection of dairy export subsidies in the United States and European Union.

“Farm leaders were highly critical of trade restrictions that have spread across the globe like a plague. Since the world economy went into recession last year, 17 of the G20 countries have implemented some form of protectionism.

“There is no doubt export subsidies hurt farmers and consumers alike. That is why we denounce the US and EU’s move to subsidise their inefficient dairy farmers.

“When countries adopted bad economic policies in decades past, only their own citizens paid the price. What these Governments don’t seem to understand is that, in today’s global economy, the burden falls far more broadly.

“In 1930 the US enacted the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, designed to apparently protect the US economy, but history exposes it as the critical mistake that led to the 1929 stock market crash. The effects of this took some time to filter through to the rest of the world, but in modern times it would occur almost instantaneously.

“To counter the current explosion of protectionism, the Federation demanded strong political leadership to bring the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round to a timely and successful conclusion.

“Members of the Cairns Group agreed that such a conclusion must benefit the world’s agricultural producers and consumers, while providing robust and transparent rules to underpin the trade of agricultural goods.

“The Federation is confident that the Cairns Group Ministers, who are also meeting this week, took these messages on board.

“We appreciate the hard work and support provided by Trade Minister, Tim Groser, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Indonesian Farmers’ Union, which hosted the meeting. We would also like to thank the union’s chairman, Prabowo Subianto, for his positive engagement and strong advocacy.

“There is still much hard work to be done if we are to see an unwinding of protectionism. But the Federation is taking the lead and has written to, among others, US President Barack Obama and Department of Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack. This week, the Federation also had an opinion piece on US subsidies published in the prestigious Wall Street Journal.

“We will continue to work with others to do all we can to achieve a favourable outcome for New Zealand and our hard working farmers,” Mr Nicolson concluded.