NCGA
Talks Trade at Sweetener Symposium (8-6-03)
Trade
policy, sweetener industry effects on the U.S. economy and World Trade
Organization (WTO) negotiations were the focus of discussions at the
20th Annual International Sweetener Symposium in Blaine, Wash., Aug.
3-6.
National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Fred Yoder, Vice
President of Public Policy Jon Doggett and Corn Board Member Scott
Wall represented corn grower interests at the meeting.
"We
talked about trade policy, the farm bill and the status of the sweetener
industry in the U.S. and around the world," said Yoder. “Discussions
focused on WTO, regional and bilateral agricultural negotiations and
what it all means for the administration’s aggressive trade
liberalization agenda.”
Doggett,
who spoke at the symposium about trade negotiations, added that discussions
definitely benefited corn growers. "It allows us to understand
other points of view in public policy and to have a better understanding
of some of the intricacies involved in trade negations.”
Other
speakers included: Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), House Agriculture
Committee Ranking Member Charlie Stenholm (D-Texas), and Jim Grueff,
Assistant Deputy Administrator for International Trade Policy at the
Foreign Agricultural Services.
The
International Sweetener Symposium is held by the American Sugar Alliance,
a national coalition of growers, processors and refiners of sugarbeets,
sugarcane and corn for sweetener.