By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter
Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: The United States is the world's largest cotton exporter, the second biggest producer, and the world's top subsidizer of cotton production. Many U.S. cotton farmers say they'd go out of business without subsidies. But the payments aren't fair, says Brazil. Aluisio Lima-Campos used to chair the International Cotton Advisory Committee that studies world cotton markets. He says U.S. subsidies hurt cotton growers in his country and elsewhere, violate world trade agreements.
Aluisio Lima-Campos, Economic Advisor from the Brazilian Embassy; Chair of the International Cotton Advisory Committee: You create an artificial excess production in such massive proportions that throws international prices down. Then you have countries like Brazil, Australia, the poor African countries that - many of them depend on exports of cotton to survive - not being able to sell their product at a reasonable price because this massive quantity of subsidized cotton is being dumped all over the world.
Zeeble: Not so fast, say U.S. cotton industry experts. The WTO didn't look at all the facts. Weather can often influence world commodity prices a lot more than subsidies. Drought will ruin one nation's harvest, while another's might thrive. Cotton, grain and cattle farmer Donald Patman, also discounts claims that Brazilian farmers are suffering because of subsidies. Standing in one of his fields near Waxahachie, the 72-year-old Texas farmer says the high cost of raising his 25 hundred acres of cotton puts him at a disadvantage with Brazil.
Donald Patman, Texas Cotton Farmer: They're not hurting with cheap labor, cheap inputs. Tractors are cheaper, trucks are cheaper, everything is cheaper made in Brazil, because of cheap labor. He's not hurting.
Zeeble: Studies show it costs more than twice as much to grow cotton in the U.S. than in Brazil. Clyde Preskowitz, chair of the Economic Strategy Institute, in Washington D.C., says that's not the point. He wants subsidies eliminated.
Clyde Perskowitz, Chair of the Economic Strategy Institute, Washington D.C: The objective isn't to level the playing field. We could grow pineapples in Minnesota if we built hothouses, but it would be a foolish thing to do because it's not competitive. By the same token, if it's not competitive to grow cotton in Texas as opposed to cotton in Brazil, why do it?
Zeeble: Preskowitz has an answer to his own question - influential, moneyed lobbyists who work with powerful Congress people in cotton growing states. Representative Charles Stenholm of Texas - which is the nation's largest cotton-producing state - rejects such allegations. The ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, he also disagrees with the WTO's interim decision against the U.S., but claims the U.S. isn't as hard-line as critics allege.
Charles Stenholm, Texas State Representative; U.S. House Agriculture Committee Member: I'm having a hard time understanding what Brazil has won. What have they won since we've put our subsidies on the table to be negotiated away and that might happen as early as next year? It's confusing.
Lima-Campos: I haven't read anything about that.
Zeeble: Again, Aluisio Lima-Campos.
Lima-Campos: Promises are promises. We haven't seen anything concrete from the U.S. concerning domestic subsidies.
Zeeble: The final decision from the WTO is due June 18th, and it could be different from the interim ruling. If it stands, Stenholm says the U.S. will appeal - a process that could last years. It could also force changes to current law, subsidy policies, future trade negotiations, and the future livelihood of an estimated 25,000 U.S. cotton farmers. For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.
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