NCGA
President to Join Ag Officials at Press Briefing on CAFTA-DR (4-08-05)
National Corn Growers
Association (NCGA) President Leon Corzine and other agriculture
leaders will join Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and other officials
at a press briefing Monday to advocate passage of the Central America
and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). The group
will highlight the agricultural trade benefits of CAFTA-DR, which
is expected to create new opportunities for U.S. producers of meats,
grains and specialty crops.
Ambassador Allen F. Johnson,
chief U.S. agriculture negotiator, and J.B. Penn, undersecretary
for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services, will also participate
in the event.
“It’s an
honor to be involved in this event,” Corzine said. “We
have pushed for CAFTA-DR for a long time and the importance of this
agreement to corn growers cannot be understated.”
Corzine will have an
opportunity to speak with Johnson at the event and re-emphasize
what CAFTA-DR means to corn growers. “Under the agreement,
the United States will have a significant increase in corn exports
to these countries by 2024,” he said. “Right now we
have a tariff of 15 to 35 percent on our corn and products going
into those countries, and we’re looking at total elimination
of those tariffs phased in over 15 years. The market share would
grow from 80 percent to 87.5 percent, amounting to a gain of $870
million.”
According to statistics
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Trade Representative,
the nations that constitute the CAFTA-DR agreement represent the
second-largest market in Latin America for U.S. products. The agreement
will provide nearly $1.5 billion in additional U.S. agriculture
exports by the end of the full implementation period, creating tremendous
export opportunities for U.S. farmers.
Corzine said he will
reiterate to Johnson and other officials the importance of free
and fair trade opportunities.
“The bottom line
is that this will put U.S. growers into the role as a preferred
supplier rather than a residual supplier of agriculture products,”
Corzine said.
The press briefing is
slated for 4 p.m. in the Horizon Ballroom of the Ronald Reagan International
Trade Center. The event will mark the public launch of the Agriculture
Coalition for CAFTA.