The U.S. dairy industry is one of the big winners in the revamped North American Free Trade Agreement, which is good news for Idaho’s farming economy.
The U.S. wheat industry also fared well in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which was announced earlier this week and, if ratified, will replace the 24-year-old NAFTA.
Dairy accounts for about a third of the state’s total farm cash receipts, as Idaho’s dairy operations brought in 2.5 billion in farm cash receipts last year.
Among the other things under the new agreement, Canada will provide new access for U.S. dairy products, including for fluid milk, cheese, cream, butter, skim milk, and powder, and that nation will also eliminate its tariffs on whey and margarine. The agreement provides U.S. dairy products access to an additional 3.6 percent of Canada’s dairy market. Canada also agreed to grade U.S. wheat imports in the same manner it grades Canadian wheat.
According to U.S. wheat industry leaders, U.S. wheat currently shipped to Canada is automatically downgraded to feed wheat, the lowest classification, which also brings the lowest price. The Idaho Grain Producers Association says the U.S. wheat industry has been working to resolve that issue for a long time. Wheat, which brought in $417 million in cash receipts in Idaho last year, is the state’s fourth-largest farm commodity, behind dairy, beef cattle, and potatoes.
U.S. potato and beef cattle industry leaders said their industries didn’t gain anything from the new agreement, but they also didn’t lose any of the favorable trade terms enjoyed under NAFTA. (Post Register)
