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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo., Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Rep. Charles
Stenholm (D-TX), the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture
Committee, said today that sugar farmers ``should never apologize
for asking the government to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them to
get a level playing field in the international marketplace.''
Stenholm made the statement in an address to the International
Sweetener Symposium, sponsored by the American Sugar Alliance, being
held here through Wednesday.
He urged the group to agree on a policy for sugar for the 2002
Farm Bill that would help eliminate distortion in the world
marketplace, and then present those suggestions to members of the
Agriculture Committee. He said he assured the sugar farmers ``we're
going to bust a gut to create a level playing field ... not just
philosophically, but in fact.''
Stenholm said, ``We need to take a look at what the world is
doing as we get ready to do our next farm bill.''
In referring to the world sugar market, Stenholm said, ``The
world sugar market is not a free market. It isn't now, never has
been, and never will be.''
As for trade issues, Stenholm said, ``Side agreements need to be
honored.'' He referred to the dispute between Mexico and the United
States over a side- letter agreement that set specific conditions on
sugar imports from Mexico. He said NAFTA would never have passed
without the side letter. Mexico now disputes the side letter.
Stenholm called for cooperation, not just within the industry
itself, but also with ``those who buy sugar.'' The big commercial
sugar users have traditionally led attacks against U.S. sugar
policy. If U.S. sugar policy is ended, American farmers could be
driven out of business. Stenholm said the commercial users need to
ask themselves, ``Do you really want to be dependent on sugar from
the world dump market?''
In a message to sugar producers as well as commercial users, he
said, ``It is absolutely necessary that we learn to work together.
There needs to be cooperative effort.''
The American Sugar Alliance is a national coalition of producers,
processors and refiners of sugarbeets, sugarcane and corn for
sweetener.
For more information about U.S. sugar policy, visit http://www.sugaralliance.org/.
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